Journey of a Knight
by Melody Phoenix
Summary: A year has passed since the return of FLAG. Now Karr is back, and when one AI is not enough, Mike accepts help from his half sister to catch both the rogue car and his accomplice. With no clues and the teenager hanging around, can they do it?
1. Prologue

'**Guide:'**  
KITT: Knight Industries Three Thousand  
Kitt: Knight Industries Two Thousand

**Journey of a Knight**

**Prologue: May 15****th****, 2010**

Everything was dark. It would have been completely black if it were not for the first quarter moon hanging in the sky, casting everything it touched in an eerie white glow. Across a lake sat an isolated cabin, hidden by the trees on the shore. The windows allowed a harsh unnatural light to pass through, piercing through the soft radiance of the moon. Raised voices echoed throughout the cabin's interior and quickly made their way outside for all to hear, confident they were alone.

"We can't wait any longer, Rory," A female voice was saying, her voice gradually rising with her shortening temper, "We have to move now. If we just pack up and leave right now, she'll never be able to find us!"

A second voice made itself known. It was male, and his voice was calm, despite the other's impatience, "She'd find out, Tracy, when we didn't meet her with the car. Then she'd hunt us down and kill us like dogs for leaving. We will leave, just not right now."

"But if we don't leave _now-_"

"I know, Tracy. Trust me, I know. But we can't. Not yet, at least. We need to get the car back to Wren first. Then-"

"Then _what_, Rory?" her voice was growing frantic, "We can't leave after that. Right now she doesn't know where we are. We have to meet her to give her the car, and she can have us followed then. She might not even be done with us yet! We can't leave after we go back to her, Rory. We're lucky she doesn't know about the cabin anyway."

"But we _can_ leave, if we cooperate. If she's done with our… services, then we'll leave after we're paid. If we're followed, we'll get away. We've been in this situation before, Tracy, and we've always made it out. We can make it out this time too, if we play the game right."

Tracy sighed and pushed the hair out of her face, holding her hand above her brow. She turned her back to Rory and watched the waves on the lake retreat before once again lapping at the shore. What he said made sense. They have done similar things before on other occasions, but this one was different. She didn't know how just yet, but there was something about the car sitting in their garage… Something important about it Wren didn't tell them. Rory put his arm around her as she stared out the window. A moment passed before she asked one of the many questions that, if she thought of a possible answer to one, only left more in its wake, "What does she even want with that stupid car?"

Rory shrugged and blew air through his nose, "Maybe she's a collector. Trans Ams were pretty nice in their day. Still are."

The waves crashed again and again on the rocks, calming her enough so she could think without her fear and anger blurring logic, "I guess. But there's got to be more to it than that. Why would she want that specific one? There are plenty of others out there. And why was it being guarded?"

"It's either one hell of a car, or there's more to it than she's telling us."

Her eyes narrowed, "Knowing Wren, I'd take the latter."

"Same here," He placed a kiss on her cheek before squeezing her in a half hug, "'Come on, go get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us."

Tracy sighed before walking away from his outstretched arm and into a bedroom. She closed the door behind her, the click of the door reaching Rory's ears down the hall in the living room where she left him. He turned and walked through the small kitchen, the entryway, and finally the door connecting the cabin to the garage. His shoes made a tapping noise on the concrete floor as he passed his Tracy's 2001 Explorer, a vehicle she claimed was about as inconspicuous as it gets, and stood in front of the Trans Am at the far end of the garage. He felt… strange. Almost like he wasn't alone. Rory looked back at the door, expecting to see Tracy, but it remained closed and the room silent. He stared at the Trans Am for a while, waiting for it to give him the answers to all the questions scraping away at his mind. One of them escaped his lips before he could stop it.

"What are you?" His eyebrows scrunched together, puzzled. He didn't mean to ask the question. He didn't even know he'd thought it. What did he mean, "What are you?" _It_ was a car. He knew that. But something was off with it. Something made him feel like he was standing before a stranger. He shook his head and smiled humorlessly, "I'm going insane, is all."

But he didn't care about the feeling he had. He told himself he didn't, at least.

Unable to shake the feeling that he wasn't alone, he pulled out his phone, which was just a simple black flip phone. He took a few pictures of the dark Pontiac, from nose to spoiler, making sure he caught the unlit light on the nose and the bizarre dash inside. He wouldn't tell Wren, but he wanted mysterious car, the thing that Wren nearly lost sleep over. He wanted to push every button on the strange dash, to know what they were for, though Wren gave both himself and Tracy strict orders not to touch anything but the steering wheel and the accelerator.

He placed his hand on the hood and ran it back down the side to the tail lights, every inch of the metal silky smooth underneath his fingertips. Oddly enough, it was almost soft... must be some kind of new high gloss coat, he decided. Rory turned and walked back to the front of the car, trying to understand everything he knew. When he couldn't, he strode past the Explorer to the door and hesitated with his hand on the silver knob.

He stole one last glance at the black and grey Trans Am before walking into the cabin.


	2. Life in the Dark

**Chapter One:** Life in the Dark

The sound of an alarm shattered the silence in the warehouse. The sound that caused the alarm could be clearly heard outside in the night; the growl of an engine coming to life. Guards rushed to the scene, abandoning their patrols. Cameras focused on the doors containing the source of the growling vehicle at the command of a lonely security guard, oblivious to the break in up until this point.

dGordy, working alone in a room with monitors that nearly covered a wall, pressed a button on the keyboard in front of him, and one of the closer cameras responded by zooming in on the lock of a door, which required a specific fingerprint to open. Two words on a small screen flashed above in green, reading 'ACCESS GRANTED.'

He cursed before snatching the microphone sitting between the keyboard and his coffee mug, pressed a button on its stand, and announced the break in. It played loudly through the speakers scattered around the grounds, "Security breach in area twelve. All security personnel to room 12 immediately." He wasn't even sure his last words were heard, since he barely heard them himself over the roar of metal-on-metal as a car burst through the doors of room number twelve.

He really hated the nightshift.

/-/

Rory had done well so far. He'd made it past the guards outside the warehouse without a problem. The inside, though, was a different matter, since the layout was much different than what he assumed it would be. The building wasn't made up of one or two large rooms, but four. Each one was nearly packed full with crates, stacked on top of and beside one another. What only made matters worse was that each of the six rooms had at least five doors leading to smaller rooms, most of which he looked in stored more boxes and filing cabinets, containing everything he didn't care about. Despite all this, he easily found what he was looking for.

It was in the third large section of the building and behind its second door, marked with a 12. The only way he knew what he was looking for was inside number twelve, was because of the doors themselves. Instead of a single seven foot door, room number twelve's doors were three or four times as wide and two feet taller. It split down the middle, creating double doors that would spread apart from one another to reveal a large, gaping hole in the wall. But for now, they remained sealed tight with a special lock. After his quick examination of the doors, Rory went back into hiding behind a crate to keep out of view of the cameras. He quickly texted Tracy, his partner in crime, to tell her he'd found it. She replied with a blunt "K, meet u outside" and Rory replaced the phone in his pocket. In the dark its light seemed blinding, but he was sure to keep it covered. He wasn't that stupid.

Once the camera watching the door turned the other way, leaving him enough of an opening to make his move, he darted out from behind a crate and touched his thumb to the lock. It scanned his fingerprint, which had been altered prior to the mission. Whose finger the print belonged to, he had no idea. Wren never told him. He glanced back at the camera, which was slowly turning closer to room number twelve. The lock beeped once, and when Rory looked back at it, it was flashing "ACCESS GRANTED" at him on a small screen. The door clicked open and he snuck inside, leaving the door cracked behind him before the camera had a chance to capture him. He assumed it was at enough of an angle that it wouldn't pick up the difference. He'd risk it, since the door would probably lock again once he shut it.

He turned around and noticed that the room was dark, even darker than the one he just left. This was pitch black. He pulled out a device from his pocked that looked a lot like an iPod touch. It was slightly larger and was all screen. There was a small button on the back, which Rory pressed. The room flared to life on the screen, everything bathed in a green glow. He scanned the room with it from left to right, not taking a step until he knew what was waiting for him in the dark.

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth when he found the room, which was roughly the size of a four car garage, was void of anything but a single car sitting innocently in the right corner. He crept over in its direction, as if not to wake it. He tried the door and was surprised to find it open up when he tugged on the handle. He laid the night vision screen, or NVS, the techs called it, on the passenger seat. Rory sat in the bucket seat and closed the door quietly beside him. His hand searched for the ignition he expected to lack a set of keys when he felt them, waiting to be used after so long.

This is way too easy. I don't get why Wren even needs us for this… Rory thought in delight. This was their easiest job in months, and they were going to get a generous amount of cash for it, too. This was their first job for Wren, and no matter how much he loathed her, he hoped they could work again in the future, if these were the kinds of things she did.

He grabbed the key and turned it easily. The engine stuttered and died twice, refusing to turn over for him. He started to worry about the noise, which would surely bounce off everything in the room until someone else heard it. He tried again and, lucky for Rory, it growled to life. Certain lights on the dash flickered to life, but most of it remained black. He turned the headlights on and watched with some amusement as they flipped up out of the hood, lighting up the small space and part of the larger room where it seeped through the crack in the door.

An alarm went off, brought into action by either the engine or the light, no doubt. A voice came over the intercom as Rory shifted into drive, "Security breach in sector 12. All-" The voice was cut off abruptly by the explosion of sound. Room twelve's doors flew apart when the Trans Am nosed its way through rather violently. Security guards responding to the incomplete order dove left and right trying to escape the path of the stolen vehicle. Some weren't so quick.

Rory swerved around crates, not knowing about the seemingly normal car's indestructible shell. Bullets started to fly as guards regained their feet. Rory ducked to escape the shots, but none entered the vehicle, though he was sure it had been hit. He hesitantly ran the car through a car door in the back of the main room, where he was greeted by the yellow and orange flashing and sirens of the security guard's vehicles headed his way. His foot eased off the accelerator slightly as he gaped at the hood of the Trans Am. It was covered in a layer of dust from sitting so long, but didn't even have a scratch in the paint though bits of the door he destroyed still sat caught between hood and windshield.

Tracy flew past him in her Explorer (its plates removed for their current job) and brought him back to the situation at hand. He followed, tires squealing. He couldn't help looking up at the trees that towered over them, and the little paved road grew more and more narrow the more it declined. Within seconds, Tracy was almost constantly braking for both gravity and the turns where making it difficult to navigate. Rory found himself doing the same thing. Luckily, the guards were having the same problem. His pocked vibrated and he pulled out a black flip phone, the front lit up with the name 'Tracy.' He flipped it open and changed his grip on the gull wing steering wheel. Guards behind him were attempting to blow his tires, so he grabbed the wheel with his other hand that was still holding the phone. He assumed they missed when nothing happened.

He snorted at Tracy's timing, "Little busy here, Trace."

"You do know you're not supposed to talk on the phone and drive at the same time, right?"

"You're one to talk. Is this a social call, or something that actually matters?" He insisted. This was not the time to be cracking jokes. The speedometer, one of the few lit lights on the otherwise dark dash, climbed up to 40mph as they navigated the narrow, winding road. He realized this was too fast and almost slammed on the brakes to successfully make another turn. Ahead of him, the bulky form of the Explorer slowed for yet another turn. Bullets continued to bounce off the Trans Am, blocking most of the SUV ahead of him. "And can we pick up the pace here? I don't know about you, but I really don't like being shot at." …even if they're not doing any damage, is what he didn't add.

"No, it's not a social call." Tracy replied in a near monotone voice, "and no, we can't pick up the pace. There's too many turns."

Rory growled in annoyance when he was forced to slow and turn again, proving the red head's point. "Whoever planned the location of this place should be shot."

"Exactly."

"What did you want, again?"

"I was wondering where we should go. Wren wants the car ASAP, but we risk the chance of leading someone to her if we go from here."

Wren. The woman with no last name. The woman who, if even temporarily, was their boss. He hated her with a passion, but couldn't wait to get his hands on their paycheck. He could put up with her until then.

Rory looked in the side view mirror briefly when he noticed they'd given up showering him in bullets. "The cabin. No one knows about the cabin, not even Wren. We'll hide out there until we think it's safe to head for Wren's with the car."

"Got it."

Rory closed the phone and tossed it in the passenger seat before taking another left turn. He would've run into a squad car head on if it weren't for its flashing lights and siren –which had a distinct difference from the security cars'- that alerted him just before the turn. The car skidded to a halt, turned, and followed the security vehicles, which now looked a lot like a group of squad car wannabes.

Tracy was already around the corner and saw the car in time, but swerved slightly off the road, slowing down. Rory passed her as she guided the SUV back onto the road, their pursuers falling behind. Rory noticed why almost too late. Up ahead was a road block made up of two squad cars. There was not time to slow down, so he floored it. He didn't plan on where he'd hit it, but he lucked out when he hit the barrier at its weakest point; between the two cars.

He felt the force of the impact and saw the cars spin around him, allowing the Explorer behind him enough room to squeeze through after him. The cars that had created a former barrier stopped and, once again, took their places blocking the road, though their positions were less than perfect this time around. Either way it worked. The first security vehicle hit their brakes, causing a seven car wreck made up of four security cars and three squad cars.

All this happened in a matter of seconds, most of which Rory spent staring in awe at the hood of the Trans Am, which still refused to so much as dent. He glanced up again, and not a moment too soon. He slammed on the brakes and stopped with the nose of the car not three feet from the four lane freeway, Tracy's metallic red Explorer at his right side.

Headlights highlighted the road from both directions, no one knowing of anything that went on behind the causally waiting Trans Am and Explorer. Rory and Tracy turned right and blended into the traffic around them, leaving the police cars headed toward the ever winding road to wonder where they've gone, and the large metal sign at the beginning of it reading "Knight Research Storage Unit" to watch them leave.

.::.::.::.::.

My hand is cramping now... I didn't have the chance to type it up, so I had to write. :O Yeah, _write._ With a _pencil_ and freaking _notebook __paper. _How primitive.


	3. Discovery

**AN:** Sorry, but I changed the time of the story. It was originally in June of 2009, but now it's 2010… Please don't be mad. It was for the better of the story! Speaking of which…

**Chapter Two: **Discovered

Waking up to the sound of a telephone ringing was fairly annoying on its own, but at 3am, it's just going to end up flying across the room. At least that's what Mike would do, if it were close enough. Lucky for the phone, it was stationed on a wall downstairs in the 'Kitt Cave.' He briefly wondered who would call FLAG's landline at three in the morning, and even debated going to answer it. In the end his fatigue won, but it wasn't exactly a huge decision for him in the first place.

Almost as if to prove his point, Mike rolled over to face the wall of his pod, and after two more rings, the noise came to an end, allowing him to drift into sleep less than ten seconds later.

/-/

At 7 am, Sarah Graiman set down the phone after saying her polite thank you and goodbye to an Ian Thompson. She asked KITT to wake everyone for her, and roughly a minute later Billy, Zoe, and Mike made their way down the metal stairs, looking less than enthusiastic for the day.

"KITT said you wanted us?" Billy asked Sarah before slumping in his chair, still in dark blue pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt.

"Yeah, I need to tell you about our next assignment."

Mike and Zoe found a place on the couch in front of KITT, who was the only one other than Sarah unfazed by the wake up call. Mike quickly looked over Sarah. She was leaning on the long table in front of them, placing herself between Billy and Zoe's workstations. Her hands were placed flat on the table, lightly tapping the surface with her nails as she waited for them to get settled. Taking in this and her uneasy expression, she looked nervous.

"The head of security from FLAG's storage unit called," she began, referring to the call from Ian, "He called earlier-"

"Was that the call at three in the morning?" Mike questioned, still annoyed at the phone.

"Yes, and thank you for answering it."

He rolled his eyes and smiled at the sarcastic comment.

"Anyway, he called to say there was a burglary early this morning."

Zoe paused in brushing her hair with her fingers, "Was anything stolen?"

"The only thing taken was a car stored in one of the rooms."

"A car?" Billy asked from his chair, which had, unsurprisingly, found its way next to Zoe on the couch, "That's it? No blueprints for a rocket, or the prototype for something huge?"

"The car _was_ a prototype. And it's more important than it sounds. Show them, KITT." Sarah stepped to the side next to Mike so she wouldn't block the view of the slideshow of images flashing on the giant screen, "And it's pretty huge." The pictures were of a grey and black car, a 1982 Trans Am, to be exact. There was a downgraded version of KITT's scanner mounted on the prow, its amber glow frozen in the form of pixels. "I'd like you to meet Karr." Sarah looked away from the screen in time to catch their reactions.

Mike was dumbfounded, "You can't be serious."

"Don't worry, it's not the KARR we know. This is the Knight Automated Roving Robot, the first Knight Industries vehicle ever created."

"I thought Kitt was the first." Zoe spoke what the three were thinking.

"Karr was Kitt's prototype." She explained, "He was deactivated because of faulty programming. Karr's primary function was self preservation, and it backfired. Kitt was built as his replacement. They changed the programming to try and make the new AI, which happened to be the first Kitt, more stable."

More images of Karr flickered on the screen. KITT reached a video, and Sarah told him to play it. Everyone watched in silence as Karr pressed his interior temperature higher to get a man to join him. Mike's eyebrows scrunched together at Karr's voice. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. The video ended with Karr ordering the man to get in.

"The videos were copied from Karr's memory." She continued, "It was 1985 then, which was Michael Knight and Kitt's third year working for FLAG. The first time they met Karr was in 1982, and they got rid of him by driving him off a cliff. But he came back in 1985 when those two dug him out of the sand." She pointed at the screen.

Another video came up when the first ended with Karr ordering the man to get in. This one was in a sandy clearing under a bridge. Mike's expression became unreadable, Sarah noticed, when his father and the original Kitt showed up. They watched as the Trans Ams fought, ending the battle with a Turbo Boost. The view switched from Karr's to Kitt's view as Karr exploded, showering the ground in flaming pieces of what was only seconds ago an indestructible car.

That's when Mike realized why the voice sounded familiar. He figured it out because of the battle itself, which ended so many years ago, but was finished the same way theirs did with the second KARR. This Karr's voice sounded a lot like the others'. That's what brought up the question. Mike asked slowly, "Sarah, is this Karr the same AI that, _was_, our KARR?"

"No, he isn't. They're two separate AIs, but it's the same concept." Sarah reassured him, "Why they created a second Karr in the first place, I'll never understand." Sarah sighed as the video stopped with Michael Knight and Kitt talking to each other.

The room was quiet before Zoe gave her review, "That was awesome."

"How was the car stolen if it was turned into, well, that?" Billy asked. Mike was being unusually quiet, Sarah noticed, "Where do I start?" she asked herself, "After Michael overpowered Karr, my dad didn't think he, what was left of him, at least, should just lie there for anyone to take. They gathered up the pieces and stored them in the warehouse. The CPU was still functional, and Karr was still alive, to a point, so he had him deactivated. When Torres rebuilt our KARR, he rebuilt this one, too, as a backup in case something went wrong with him."

"Glad he was thinking ahead." Zoe commented sarcastically.

Sarah simply looked at her and continued, "Torres obviously didn't live to do it, so when we found Karr completely rebuilt and waiting to be reactivated, he was locked in the storage units."

Billy leaned farther back in his chair, "Now someone obviously knew about it and stole him."

"Looks like."

"How do you know about Karr?"

"My dad thought he'd leave me another message before he died. He told me where to look in our little house on the beach, and I found a stack of copied papers from the original FLAG that told me pretty much everything about Karr, and he left me a written letter about what Torres told him about both AIs.

But I found it after the whole KARR thing happened and they'd already moved Karr into storage. I was going to tell you, but there was already so much going on with KARR… I was going to wait until it was over, but I must have forgot."

The room was quiet after Sarah's speech. Mike was wondering if he should be angry with her for overlooking something like a fourth AI, or to accept her explanation. He decided on indifference. "So… Any leads on who stole him?"

"The only thing that might be helpful is a description of the accomplice. I'm not sure you'd even call it a description…"

"Anything is better than nothing, isn't it?"

"In our case, not so much. One of the guards outside the building saw a woman with red hair, around 5' 5'', run out of the building and to a hidden red Explorer about a minute before they got their hands on Karr. One of the cameras caught a glimpse of a brunette man inside Karr when they were getting away."

"…You're right. It sucks. But it's all we got. Did they get the plates?"

"Apparently they were removed before the break-in."

The room was quiet again before Zoe spoke up, "They're smart, aren't they?"

Sarah had made her way back to the table when the videos were over and pulled herself up, obviously more relaxed since she got the problem out in the open, "What do you mean?"

"Well, they got to the building un-noticed and they got _in_ the building un-noticed. They beat the lock that requires a finger print to release, they knew what they were looking for, which would mean they either know about FLAG or the building. They knew where the cameras and guards were, knew when and where to hide the getaway car, and were smart enough to get rid of the plates. I'd say they've either done their homework, or we're working with some experienced thieves."

Everyone stared at Zoe for a moment, "…What?"

There was a pause, then, "You may be right, Zoe." KITT spoke for the first time since Mike, Billy, and Zoe woke up, "According to this police report I found a while back, there is a brown haired man named Rory Crosby, and a red head named Tracy Rodgers, who are basically thieves for hire." KITT threw mug shots of Rory and Tracy up on the screen, "Someone will pay them a fair amount of money in trade for stealing what seems like just about anything."

Zoe turned to face the Mustang, "But if they're in jail, how could they steal Karr?"

"I never said they were in jail."

"But you said there was a police report. And the mug-shots look pretty recent, so…"

"They _were_ in jail. Four months, three days, and thirteen hours ago, to be exact."

Everyone was facing KITT now, and Mike asked, "And they escaped, right?"

"Correct. There was a vehicle waiting for them outside the premises. They haven't been seen since."

"How'd they get caught in the first place?" Billy asked, getting in on the questioning again.

"They were very thorough, the thieves. Nothing was ever left at the scene of the crime. No fingerprints, tire tracks, not even a strand of hair. Mr. Reeves, on the other hand, was not so careful. When he was interrogated, he told them of Tracy and Rory. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been found, possibly not even known, at all."

"Let the police know we're looking for them, KITT." Mike stood and stretched, multiple joints cracking, "If they find them before we do, they'd probably want to know about their latest job." Mike turned to Sarah, nodded, then continued toward the stairs. Sarah, a smile playing on her face, turned to grab his shirt and pulled him back.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Uh, to my pod." Mike pointed in the pod's general direction.

"You're not going back to bed." Sarah turned Mike and sat him back down on the couch, "You are going to stay right here and help find these two."

Mike stood back up and smiled, "Sarah, I'm just the driver. I sit inside KITT, I chase the guys I'm supposed to chase, and do some occasional problem solving. I don't do the research in the KITT Cave. That's what Billy and Zoe are for." Mike yawned.

"You're still not going back to bed, Mike. I don't care how long it takes; you _will_ help us get Karr back. He's not a toy. Karr is a weapon, and if we _don't_ get him back-"

"I'm sure I don't want to know." Mike broke off her mini-rant, "Alright, you got me. I'll help."

"Thank you. And instead of doing the research you're so bad at, you can go see Ian Thompson at the warehouse."

"Head of security?"

"Yep. And I'm assuming you're going to go as soon as possible, right?" Sarah smiled.

"Of course, Sarah. Because I have nothing else in the world I'd rather do." Mike smiled back and started toward the stairs again, not surprised when Sarah caught his shirt a second time.

"Hey! I thought you were going to help."

Mike paused, "I am." He pulled against her grip and didn't make it far.

"Sleeping isn't going to help anything."

"Who said I was going to sleep?" He made a hand gesture toward his well worn shirt and pajama pants.

Sarah released his shirt and let him take the stairs two at a time up to his room. She walked up to KITT on the gimble and tapped his hood quietly, "Let me know if he accidently falls asleep, okay?"

"I'm sure it would be no accident, Sarah."

"My point exactly."

/-/

"You sure they're Karr's?"

"I'm positive, Mike. The tread matches perfectly."

Two hours earlier, Mike had been trying to find his way past Sarah and back to his bed at FLAG. Since then, he and Kitt had spent their time fifteen minutes east of the Foundation and at the Knight Research Storage Unit. They'd talked to Ian and some of the other guards on duty last night, who gave him very little to go on. Nothing really, as to where the thieves took their, what seemed to be easily earned, supercar.

They'd looked over last night's video footage, and KITT had indeed spotted a red headed woman running in the lot, and part of a brunette man's face, caught on tape. The faces matched up perfectly with Tracy and Rory's, but they'd already assumed it was them to begin with, so it didn't help them much.

There wasn't any evidence to follow their trail inside the warehouse itself, up until the point when Rory came charging through the doors to room twelve. Outside, though, was a different story. There were tire tracks and skid marks nearly everywhere you looked, but there were so many vehicles on the scene it would be nearly impossible to place them. It would be, that is, if two sets didn't stand out from the others like they did. One set belonged to the Explorer caught on tape, the Bridgestone brand name clearly written on their sides. The security car's tires were all Michelin, so they were immediately excluded. The other set stood out even further, since they were one, or four of eight, really, of a kind. They were designed by Knight Industries back in 1982, and match no other tire on the face of the earth. Except for Kitt's, that is.

Mike and KITT lost the trail when tracks started overlapping on the winding road down the hill the building was occupying. There were tall, thick pine trees left and right, drowning the paved road in a cool shade until noon. Skid marks from both vehicles were found again on some of the sharper corners, among others. At the end of the road were dozens of black streaks on the pavement, accompanied by shards of glass, the remains of head and taillights, and something that might have once been a GPS mounted on someone's windshield.

The black strips ended about 20 feet from the beginning of the road, where four new ones were found. They were, unsurprisingly, the ones they were looking for. KITT decided they turned right onto the freeway, heading further east.

"We cannot follow the tracks any longer, Michael. There are too many others overlapping to distinguish one set."

"Check the turn-offs." Mike decided without hesitation, "Maybe they left a few more skid marks for us."

Eighteen minutes and thirty-four side roads later, KITT got a match. "Mike, turn left. I have detected tire tracks that match those belonging to Karr."

Mike pulled a hard left, cutting off two cars next to him. They voiced their opinions through hand gestures and car horns, but they were ignored. "Good. I was starting to get bored."

KITT hesitated as they waited for cars on the opposite side to pass, "Mike, why didn't you want to look for Karr?"

Mike looked at the orb questioningly, "What?"

"You told Sarah that Billy and Zoe could take care of it themselves, you kept trying to get back to your pod, and you were acting as if you were almost frightened while I displayed the videos of Karr."

"I was tired, KITT. And I didn't think we'd find anything at the warehouse." He brought the Mustang across the four lanes and onto a dirt road, where KITT easily followed the soft prints Karr left in the gravel.

"What about the video?"

"The video?" Mike hesitated again, longer this time, "Just… Doesn't this Karr remind you a lot of our KARR?"

"Besides the obvious shared name, you mean? Yes, I believe they do. But Mike, they are not the same."

The road, much like the one leading to the warehouse, was covered in a near constant shade provided by the towering trees, "I know, KITT, but… I can't help thinking about KARR. Yeah, we blew him up, I know. But it's still…"

"Unnerving?"

"Yes. I guess I just have to get used to having two 'Karr's, is all. I'll get over it."

The road grew narrower, and Mike was told to turn left again, this time onto a road –no, a path- large enough for only one car to pass through at a time. Karr's tracks continued to trek through the woods for what seemed like an eternity before sunlight started to sift through the branches. The road became wider, and soon there was enough room for two tall grass trails to steak down it instead of only one. The trees thinned out, and a two story cabin, bathing in the sunlight, became visible at the end, along with the sound of water lapping at a rocky beach. The cabin came with a two car garage attached to its side, where Karr's tracks came to an abrupt halt at the beginning of an automatic garage door, which, at the moment, was closed. A large deck wrapped elegantly around the other three sides, and large floor-to-ceiling windows filled the space on the upper level, which hung carefully over the deck to create a ceiling. Judging by the manicured grass and colorful flower gardens that dotted the open areas, the clean and sparkling windows, and the small, recently planted trees, it looked like someone cared for it.

But Mike could care less at the moment, though he wouldn't mind living there at all. He parked KITT at the beginning of the road and got ready to get out, "Karr's here, right?"

"Yes. He is in the garage, behind the door on the left. He appears to be shut down, and I am unable to determine whether he is in full working order or not."

"Is anyone here, other than our friend?"

"I scan no one in the immediate area."

"Good." Mike climbed out and walked up to the door of the cabin, and discovered it looked even better up close.

A voice sounded in his ear when Mike peered through the window on one of the dark double doors, "Mike, what do you plan on doing?"

"I plan on getting in," he spoke as he picked the lock on the door, "and checking the place out, while you turn into some fancy tow truck," the door opened with a click, "and work on fishing Karr out of the garage."

"'Fishing him out', Michael?"

"Well I'm not going to do it for you." Mike replaced his tools and stepped inside.

"That's not what I meant." Either way, KITT notified Sarah of the situation, and downloaded the necessary program she sent for Mike's request. After a few minutes, a black 2008 F550 tow truck replaced the Mustang, the red scanner still tracking its same steady pace as before.

While KITT changed his appearance, Mike was examining a notepad inside the high-ceilinged living room. He ripped the first few pages off and stashed them inside his pocket, almost positive the indents on them would create and address. He continued on down the hall and found an office, bathroom, and two bedrooms that gave him nothing.

A locked door, which was easily opened, gave him stairs to climb to the second level. It was completely open, the floor-to-ceiling windows lighting the entire space, except for a second bathroom and closet. It looked like it was used for entertainment more than anything, with a flat screen TV, entertainment center, couch, mini-fridge, and even a treadmill and Bowflex. The room itself was a waste of his time, but the closet contained a black waist high safe with a digital keypad on the center of the door. Interesting. "Hey KITT, can you open this safe up here?"

KITT scanned it, and the numbers 4, 1, 3, and 6 came up on the small pad in front of Mike. It beeped once and the door clicked open. Mike's eyes immediately fell upon the stack of crisp hundred dollar bills in the back. He pulled a bundle out and contemplated taking one before he set it back where it was. There were blank manila files lying in front of the bills, stacked on top of one another. Mike examined the top three and found only meaningless files, but the last one was promising. It contained a diagram of what looked like a computer, a list of KITT's features, FLAG's history, backgrounds and details on Sarah Graiman, Billy Morgan, Zoe Chae, and details on the Knight Industries Three Thousand.

Mike quickly rolled up the files and closed the safe with nothing left inside to look at.

"Ready, KITT?" He asked as he made his way down the stairs.

"As soon as you are. Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I got a few things. Any problems with Karr?"

"Since he is currently shut down, there was no trouble."

"Good." Mike made his way down the stairs with the file held tight in his left hand. He did a quick look around the living room to make sure he didn't miss anything and walked out the door to find a large F550 with the Trans Am he'd seen in the videos in tow. Mike blinked at KITT, relocked the door, and climbed inside the truck. He glanced in the rear view mirror to see the scanner on the nose of the car dark, as it should be. They drove back down the narrow driveway, unaware of the group of people watching them from the house.


	4. Karrma

**AN:** This chapter and the previous were originally one chapter, but it was a little long, so I decided to split it up. XP

**Chapter Three:** Karr-ma

(From _Discovery_) Mike blinked at KITT, relocked the door, and climbed inside the truck. He glanced in the rear view mirror to see the scanner on the nose of the car dark, as it should be. They drove back down the narrow driveway, unaware of the group of people watching them from the house.

**.:Three Hours Earlier:.**

The yellow light on the Trans Am paced back and forth excitedly. It allowed the AI to scan the garage, the vehicle next to him, the house, the lake, the ant crawling on his tire –everything, including the wires he both felt and saw streaming from beneath his hood, and the five humans standing around him. Three were female, one in a white lab coat. The other two were male, and one of them was wearing an identical uniform. Karr was confused, and he didn't like it. He found his voice modulator among one of his systems he was being permitted, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"Hello, Karr." One of the women spoke. She had medium length blonde hair and light green eyes that seemed to pierce into his core. He squirmed internally under her gaze, uncomfortable. She moved a hand gesture to the man and woman next to her –the ones without the coats, "Can you tell me who they are?"

Karr glanced at the two in question and back at the blonde woman, again confused. He complied after a moment and matched their faces to names, of which he found on several police reports involving stolen property. He didn't have to wonder too long why they were here, "Rory Crosby and Tracy Rodgers." He answered in a slightly annoyed tone. He could have continued with birth dates, criminal records, family history and the like, but it was irrelevant to the question, and he wanted his own answered sooner rather than later.

Rory and Tracy, as they were called, stood in shock. The blonde, however, smiled, happy with his response, "Very good, Karr."

He attempted the same procedure with her, and came up with nothing. Her face did not match any of those available to him. "And may I ask who you are?"

"You can call me Wren." She placed her hands behind her back and watched his scanner.

"You haven't answered my question, Wren." His tone was subdued.

"No, I didn't." she agreed. Tracy stepped forward slightly in Wren's pause, but stopped as she continued, "You're at Tracy's cabin. They brought you here without informing me first, otherwise you'd be at my lab." Rory's eyes darted toward her at the accusation. "I had to trace Rory's cell phone to even find them."

Karr noticed their clothes, which were all wrong. Wren wore a skinny white tank-top and blue jeans, Tracy sported a black t-shirt and another pair of jeans, her outfit nearly matching Rory's, though his was obviously made for men. The style had changed greatly since his most recent memory, which was from 1985. As did the technology, he found, when he actually examined the laptops and the other car. Everything was… different, from when he was last activated. Newer, and more… Advanced. He asked hesitantly, "What year is it?"

"2010."

If the techs, as he assumed they were, were watching his performance, they would have noticed a dramatic drop. Had it really been that long? It only seemed like a few days ago that he and Kitt- Wait… Kitt! And Knight… Were they still around? Was the Foundation still running? After twenty five years, something had to have changed. Right? What happened after their last fight? How was he even here? His thoughts were silenced when Wren addressed him again. She had been talking to the technicians while he was trying to determine her reason for rebuilding him. He didn't catch what the conversation was about, but they started typing commands into their laptops. He held his blocks stubbornly.

The woman in the white coat sighed and addressed Wren, "He's not letting us into anything now."

Wren smiled and looked back at Karr, "I'm sure you'll allow my technicians to activate the rest of your systems for you. I promise they won't do anything more."

I'm sure. But what good is a promise coming from a stranger? Karr said nothing and released the blocks. He was immediately rewarded with systems rebooting. He 'stretched' into them happily, running a self diagnostic for the first time in twenty five years. Oh, did it feel good to have control again! As he explored his functions, he asked another of his questions he found he had many of, "Why am I here?"

The techs closed their laptops and approached Karr, whose hood still stood open. He watched them like a hawk as they carefully removed the cords from his CPU, and immediately Karr slammed it shut, the edge barely missing their knuckles. They jumped and moved back nervously.

"You're here," Wren replied, "because I need you."

"Could you be more specific?" If he wanted, he could drive away right now. He wanted to intensely, but somehow he knew Wren held most of the answers to his questions.

She smiled at him in amusement, "I need a favor from you. Half of which you've already completed."

Alert and suspicion crept into his voice as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Wren smiled again, flashing her near flawless teeth, "Well we don't want to ruin the surprise now, do we?"

"I could care less. What do you mean I've already helped you?"

"In due time, Karr, I'll let you know. Right now, I know you have plenty of _other _questions for me. And I'll answer them _after_ you do a few things for me."

Karr sighed internally, frustrated with this woman. She had moved back to lean on a counter where Rory was already standing, Tracy sitting on top of it beside him. They seemed to be adjusting to the car in their garage, but they'd have a fair amount of their own questions for Wren later.

"Fine."

"You'll do it?"

"Maybe. Tell me what _it_ is, and we'll talk."

"Alright. But you do owe me, Karr. Remember that." She waited for Karr to answer, but when he didn't, she moved on to talk about what she'd learned about him, starting at the day he was destroyed for the second time. She worked her way up to Torres and the new KARR, how he rebuilt Karr himself as a backup from the parts Charles Graiman collected twenty five years ago, and how she had Rory and Tracy 'rescue' him from the warehouse. "When Charles Graiman died, Karr, he gave her every cent he had to run FLAG."

"And you want me to help you steal it?"

"Very good, Karr. Yes, I do."

"And why should I?"

"Why should you? Karr, you hate them. You tried to end them twice, remember?"

"No, I tried to get rid of Michael Knight and Kitt. FLAG would be a bonus."

Wren realized he flaw in her plan, and made him a new deal, "Yes, but who says they won't show up? If they do, I give you permission to kill them. And either way, you're alive. I made that possible. Like I said Karr, you owe me, big time. When I get the money, I'll give you the option of leaving."

He thought it over, and found another problem, "Their technology is going to be much more advanced then my own. And if Kitt and Michael do show up, it would be two against one. Suicide, if you ask me."

"We'll fix that. And you won't be alone. That's what you helped me with."

Karr sat in shock as what she said dawned on him, "You copied me… the computer, and built another AI?"

"Two more are being built as we speak, actually. I have my team working around the clock, but they still won't be finished for at least a couple of days." Behind her, a third laptop sat open that Karr didn't see earlier. She stopped speaking as it beeped and showed her a live video of a black Mustang pulling off a four lane highway and onto a dirt road. Karr took note of the red light on the front, and traced the footage back to a camera that was only a few miles from their current location. Wren turned and looked at it, then back at Karr. "We don't have much time. I'm sorry, Karr, but I'll have to explain later." She closed the laptop and pulled a device from her pocket. She pulled a cover off and revealed the red button along side of a green one on the top, and she placed her thumb over the red one.

Wren stood up straight and her face grew serious, "Goodnight, Karr. I'll see you soon." The button was pressed, and everything went black. Wren replaced the cover and put it back in her pocket. "Hurry up. Grab whatever isn't supposed to be here and get in the cellar, _now_." She instructed everyone in the room. She found out about the cellar when she first arrived, and to her advantage, it had been lead-lined. To KITT, there would be nothing to scan. The door was hidden under a rug; not very original, but it worked. Wren ushered everyone to it and, to any prying scanners, the occupants of the garage disappeared from the face of the earth.

**.:Present Time:.**

Mike hit the brakes as the light he was trying get through turned from yellow to red, "Crap! You could've helped me out, you know."

"Switching the traffic light for you would have caused problems with the other drivers, and most likely provoke an accident."

Mike eyed the orb and muttered something incoherent. KITT guessed it was something about using what you have, in this case KITT's ability to manipulate the traffic, as Mike had told him already on a few occasions. They waited in silence as the light turned green. They were only a few minutes from FLAG, and they were both anxious to get Karr back.

"Mike, we still don't know where Tracy and Rory are, or who they're working for."

"I know."

"How will we go about finding them?"

"I might've found an address in the cabin, if you want to look at it." Mike dug the note from his pocket and held it up for KITT to scan. He placed it back in his pocket when KITT brought up a map. "Got something?"

"You were right. It is an address. It's-" KITT cut himself off as his Karr came back online. They had just entered FLAG's property when it happened. "Mike, we have a problem. Karr has reactivated."

"What?" Mike looked in the rear view mirror to see the light that was dim only moments ago, glowing its signature yellow and racing left to right. "Can't you shut him down again?"

"I'm detecting a block too strong for EMP. If it is deployed, nothing will happen."

"Well crap." They neared the hangar doors and Mike pressed his foot down on the accelerator. "If we can get in before he gets loose-" Mike stopped as Karr hit the brakes in attempt rip himself free from KITT's grasp. The truck jerked when Karr's tires locked, and the chain securing him to the truck was broken and Karr pulled free, front wheels hitting the ground with a jarring thud. Mike spun KITT around and came 'face to face' with Karr, who, to both Mike and KITT's surprise, wasn't running. He wasn't fighting anymore, either. He was just… watching. "KITT, normal mode." Mike ordered cautiously.

"Switching to normal mode."

Karr watched in awe as the truck before him, presumably KITT, transformed from an F550 and into a Mustang he'd never seen before. He scanned KITT, curious about his systems, who ended up scanning him back. Karr growled quietly and 'pushed' him away, annoyed. The noses of each car were less than ten feet from each other, but it seemed much closer. Neither one was an expert in being so close to another of their kind, especially when each shared the name of the other's enemy. It was… awkward, to say the least.

"So… What now, KITT?" Mike asked quietly.

"I… I'm not sure. I highly doubt he will come willingly into the base." A moment after KITT spoke, Karr spun around and raced away.

Mike gave chase, not easily catching up to the Trans Am, "Spoke too soon, KITT!"

"Mike, Karr received a message before he..."

"Ran?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell where it came from?" He asked, taking a turn onto a highway. The Trans Am sped up and the Mustang followed close behind, neither Mike nor KITT daring to look away.

"You mean where it's coming from, Mike. The link is still active."

Mike sighed quickly. They didn't have time to chat! "Can you tell me where it is?"

"It is moving. I cannot get an outright location, but we should be able to follow Karr."

Mike sighed and swerved around cars ahead of them on the little highway. Karr was about thirty feet ahead of them, and Mike wasn't letting him gain any more distance. Karr swerved around a minivan and entered the right lane again. Mike did the same, barely avoiding a head on collision with a garbage truck.

"Mike, Karr is heading toward town."

"I know." His grip tightened on the wheel.

"If we do not stop Karr before we enter the city, people could be hurt."

"That's why we stop him before we get there."Houses started to appear on either side of them, and the number of cars both coming and going increased.

Sarah appeared in Mike's line of sight, but he still kept his eyes on Karr, "Stop who? Mike, what's going on?"

"Karr got away when we were outside the base."

"You're kidding. Mike, you were so close!"

"I know, Sarah." Mike pointed out, annoyed, "Don't worry, we'll get him back."

"Don't be so sure of yourself. Karr might not be top shape, but that doesn't mean he'll be easy to catch."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sarah gave him a look before disappearing again. A car ahead of them honked as it was nearly run off the road by the Trans Am, who continued on his path to the city. As they got closer Karr blew through a stoplight, and KITT changed the rest ahead of him to green to make it as safe as possible. Mike noticed and shook his head, recalling their run in with the red light on their way to the SSC.

KITT continued to scan Karr and the road ahead of them, every obstacle, pedestrian, car; anything that could be damaged was avoided by both cars. KITT assumed Karr wasn't doing it for their sake. He still wasn't getting a direct location on whoever was talking to Karr, since their signal was being bounced around the country. Another light changed to green after a prod from KITT, but it barely flashed green before it continued to shine red.

Karr blew through the intersection, the light being a result of his doing, and a semi pulled out in front of his pursuers, effectively cutting them off. KITT went over every possible way they could maneuver around it or even go through it within microseconds, but all ended in failure. He took control of the car quickly and brought it to a halt, KITT's scanner less than a foot away from one of its rear tires.

"What the hell, KITT?"

"There was no way we could have successfully continued to pursue Karr. All forms of-"

"Is he still in range?" Mike cut him off, peeved. They backed away from the semi, tires squealing, and continued down the road.

"Yes. He is up ahead."

Mike caught a glimpse of the tail end of the Trans Am as Karr took a hard left into an alley. They were about 100 yards behind him, and even out of sight, KITT kept his scanners on him. Until, that is, he vanished. KITT scanned the area again as Mike turned down the alley. Nothing.

"Where'd he go, KITT?" Mike asked, driving slowly between the buildings. Karr was nowhere in sight.

KITT ran a quick diagnostic of his scanners, and everything was functioning at 100 percent. He ran it again as he replied, "I am not sure. He seems to have disappeared."

Mike stopped the car and stared at the orb, KITT's 'eye,' "What do you mean he _disappeared?_"

"I mean, Michael, he was on my scanners a moment ago. Now he is not."

Mike sighed in frustration. First they had him. Then he was stolen. They almost got him back when he ran. They almost had him, _again_, and he freaking disappears. Great. "What about tracks?"

"I cannot read Karr's from the other vehicle's that have driven on this road."

"Come on, KITT, he can't just vanish into thin air!"

The diagnostic came back for a second time and gave him the same result, "Stranger things have happened, Michael."

.::.::.::.::.

Oh no! Where'd he go? Looks like Karr's playing hide-n-seek. XP  
Sorry for the wait. The next chapter is about half done, but being the procrastinator that I am, it probably won't be up for a while. Just to let you know.  
Oh, yeah, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that. ^^


	5. Melody Rae Knight

**AN:** Heh, heh, sorry. Rewritten chapter.  
Anything _italic_ is a thought, be it in parenthesis or just italicized by itself. Some may appear to be spoken words, but if it doesn't have any quotations and is italic, it isn't.

**Chapter Four:** Melody Rae Knight

An obnoxious, blaring alarm sounded at exactly 7:00 a.m., scattering a few birds as the noise cut through their songs. The bedroom on the second floor of a white house contained most of the noise, but the walls and windows still allowed the sharp sound to escape. After a hand found the snooze button (following a few failed attempts at silencing the clock on the nightstand,) it fell limply to the side of the bed. The hand's owner gave a feminine groan from underneath a thick blanket. A short five minutes later the alarm sounded again, refusing to allow any living creature both inside and outside the house to sleep.

The girl missed the clock and hit the nightstand instead. She leaned up off the bed to glare at it before hitting the off button on the alarm, silencing it permanently. She sighed and rolled onto her back before sitting up and frowning.

"Melody, are you up yet?" Her mother, formerly Bonnie Barstow, called from down the hall.

"Yeah, I'm…" Her words were lost in a yawn, and… She could swear her mother laughed at her. Whatever. She stepped off the bed and stretched, ignoring a few popping joints. _Wow…_ she thought, _I'm so going to be one of those stereotypical old ladies with the bad hips and back who get off on yelling at kids… Eh, it's always good to plan ahead._

Smiling, she walked to the bathroom and turned on the light to see a tired eyed, messy haired, half asleep version of herself staring back in the mirror. Melody was a good five foot seven, with light blue-grey eyes, a near exact copy of her father's. But unlike her father's eyes and more like Melody's personality, they'd formed their own unique green smudge near the pupil. She had long brown hair that, on a good day, could give a flash or two of bronze or copper. Her bangs hung casually above and around her left eye, cutting short before they reached her eye. (Not one dared to disrupt her vision.)

She was slim boned like her mother, but had enough power to knock out her father if she so pleased. _Not that I'd ever do such a thing. _Melody smiled, _Well, if he asked for it, maybe…_

The reflection didn't look too pleased with Melody's overall appearance, and after roughly ten minutes in the bathroom, she was satisfied. She checked out the digital clock on the nightstand _(the stupid thing…) _and rolled her eyes. _I really don't feel like being late today… Freakin' algebra teacher hates me (and the rest of the class) the way it is._

She threw a random white tank top on over the cami she slept in and traded in her black basketball shorts for a hip-hugger pair of dark blue flared jeans. Briefly looking over her appearance in the full length mirror hanging next to the closet door, she wondered how anyone could prefer skinny jeans over the flared or boot cut. _They're horrible! Skinny jeans are a disgrace to jeans everywhere. They make your legs look chunky, your butt and thighs look fat, and overall like you're wrapped in plastic-wrap. Ick._ She rolled her eyes and was about to head downstairs when she remembered the black wristwatch sitting on her nightstand. She grabbed it and strapped it on, making sure the comm. link was activated. Nothing bad had ever happened to Melody in her seventeen years of life, but her mother would sure as hell have her hanged if she knew Melody didn't at least take it with her. Talk about paranoia. In her mad dash downstairs, Melody nearly crashed into her dad walking innocently through the hall.

"Woah, Mel." He laughed, "Running a bit late?"

She shuffled past the man and threw back a brief "Of course" over her shoulder as she went. She threw on her shoes and hauled the multicolored backpack over her shoulder, shouting "See ya!" as she stepped into the garage. The overall layout of the property had been built with its residents in mind, and an attached garage was appreciated by them all, especially its near 24/7 occupant.

The garage itself was designed with them all in mind. It was a large three-car garage, with more than enough extra room for all the cars and equipment it contained. It was currently occupied by a blue 2010 Escape, a silver 2006 Grand Prix, and a black 1982 Trans Am. On the wall facing the doors and cars was a long stainless steel workbench taking up around two thirds of the wall, with four overhead and under-the-counter storage cabinets at the far end. At the closer end was a black mini-fridge, and between it and the cabinets were barstools. One desktop computer and one laptop sat at the far end, with various tools (most of which Melody couldn't guess their exact uses) on their right. There was a flat screen on the wall above the counter, along with multiple picture frames and ribbons. To Melody's immediate right, next to the short stairs, was a black leather couch, turned slightly toward the flat screen, with a short end table on each side to accompany it. The garage was given the comfort early on of heating and air conditioning, for lounging and work in all seasons.

The garage was a place for entertainment as much as it was for work, and it was one of Melody's favorite places on the property. The house itself was positioned near the center of a very large yard, dotted elegantly with tall maples. There were various flower gardens which her mother took pride in, and a lake far out back with few other houses on its shore. Two parallel paths of dirt made their way from the driveway to the lake, curved through the back yard, the left side of the house, through the front yard and back to the pavement again. Bonnie had touched it up to make it look more natural, and it never once appeared as a scar across the lawn. To visitors it seemed a bit strange to have a road in the yard, but it was important to all the residents, one in particular, who found it 'claustrophobic' in the garage.

Said car was waiting in front of Melody, engine idling. She smiled his way and greeted him with a "Hey, Kitt." before settling down into the driver's seat, "Ready for school?"

A warm, friendly male voice was projected from the dash, "Are you?"

Was that a hint of sarcasm? "Kitt, it's Monday. Nobody is ever ready for anything on a Monday."

Kitt opened the garage door and backed out expertly, "I've noticed that it's usually only the ones that have to get up before 9 a.m. that complain about it, Melody."

She thought about this a moment and decided it was a pretty accurate observation, though it seemed to be directed at herself. She simply smiled at the dash and rested her arm on the door.

The car stopped and Kitt asked, "Do you want to drive?"

"Sure," She put the car in drive and took a hold of the wheel. She both heard and saw Kitt switch the car from Auto Cruise to Normal Mode, "We'll get there faster if I drive, anyway."

"Are you insisting that I'm a slow driver?"

"No… I'm just saying that I drive faster." She guided the car down the paved drive faster than she should have, to prove a point. After a turn onto the highway, they entered the freeway and rode in silence, save for the radio, most of the way to the school.

"You don't have to stay here all day, you know," Melody told the AI as she pulled into the student parking lot. There were a few waves from friends, and a lot of running around the car as they slowly made their way to the back. This, Melody had decided long ago, was another reason why you don't get to school late- crappy parking. "I'm sorry, Kitt. You can go somewhere else if you want. I know I'd never stay here if I were you." She backed into a spot between Tanner Holland's jacked-up Silverado and Samuel Neis's equally large F150. Sam and Melody had been friends since elementary school, and no one had ever questioned their strictly friends relationship.

"Although the company isn't… desirable," Kitt paused to find the right words, knowing that Melody was a huge fan of Sam's truck, "I'd rather stay here than in the garage."

She cut the engine once the Trans Am was parked, and was about to reply when there was a tap on the window. She turned away and grabbed her backpack, quickly whispering a, "See you later, Kitt," before stepping out and closing the door. "Hey, Sam."

"Hey, Melody. Why'd you steal your dad's car?"

Melody smiled, remembering the first time he'd ever lain eyes on Kitt. They were about seven, and Sam had nearly drooled. Quite a few people knew about the Trans Am, but no one, luckily, knew of Kitt, "Because mine's in dire need of new brakes, and Dad's gunna to do that while I'm at school." She slung the backpack onto her back as they made their way to the school, among the thirty-or-so other kids either doing the same, lounging on the cars, or messing around with their friends.

Sam smiled, "Well, you lucked out. I'd give anything to get my hands on that car."

She returned the smile, "You have no idea."

/-/

Five hours later the bell rang at 1:20, signaling the end of one of those rare half-days. Melody left class and walked alone out into the student parking lot, trying to avoid being hit by the maniac bus drivers on the way. She smiled when she saw Kitt, scanner bright, in the same place she left him this morning. There were a quite a few people around him, most talking to Sam and Tanner through their truck's windows. Melody was on the outside of the small mob when she ran into Kasey Morgan, a tall, dark haired girl, another of Melody's friends, who happened to be one of the most tomboy girls she knew. Kasey (annoyingly) ruffled her hair, and in return, she got a hard punch in the arm. Melody ran the rest of the way to Kitt's door, threw both the backpack and herself inside, and proceeded to laugh at Kasey when she tugged on the door handle, now locked.

"Come on, Mel, open the door!" She smiled playfully through the window, "I'm not going to hurt you!"

Melody started the car, "Yeah, I'm sure." Kasey shook her head and turned back to join the rest of the yelling teenagers as they pulled away. "Sorry about that, Kitt."

There was a smile in Kitt's voice as he spoke, "It's alright. After all, you can't control your obnoxious friends."

She rolled my eyes at that, "Oh, come on, they're not that bad. Well, Kasey is… and Ashley. Molly can be a handful, but…" I sighed in defeat, "Oh God, you're right. Well, just be glad she didn't jump on the hood and expect a ride."

"She wouldn't dare!"

"Sure about that?"

"I'm sure she'd end up on the ground if she tried."

Melody laughed as a response, trying to picture exactly how that'd happen. She'd collected a few ideas by the time they were out of the parking lot and eventually moving on to 2nd, which ran parallel to Main Street. Melody hated Main Street with a passion. _Way too many stoplights and stupid crosswalks than necessary. _Still thinking of the Kasy vs. Kitt's Hood scenario, by the third stop sign on 2nd Street, she was sure there would've been a little awkward explaining on her part if Kitt had dumped Kasey off his hood. Kitt broke her thoughts as she pulled up to another stop sign.

"Melody?"

"Yeah, Kitt?"

"Look in the alley to your left."

She gave the voice modulator on the dash a look, but complied. She nearly jumped when she saw the black Mustang idling between a tall parking garage and an apartment complex, in the middle of the alley. _No freaking way…_ "Kitt?"

"It's them, Melody. What are they doing?"

"No idea. Let's find out, shall we?" She turned into the alley and parked Kitt in front of the other KITT. _Could no one come up with a different name? Talk about confusing._ The engine was cut off and she stepped out, walking over to the larger car. The door opened and the tall, shaggy haired Mike Knight stepped out, and Melody greeted her half-brother with a smile.

"Melody?" Mike asked as he stepped out.

"Hey, Mike. Hi, KITT."

"Hello, Melody." Came the always polite reply from the AI.

Mike paused before asking, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

Mike walked around KITT and leaned on his grill, "You could."

"Just driving around? Or are you on some top secret, hush-hush FLAG mission?" She smiled, hopeful for the second.

"Just… A drive."

"You're such a liar. You're on a mission, aren't you?"

Mike rolled his eyes, and Melody crossed her arms over her chest. Mike blinked in annoyance and said, "Alright, you guessed it."

"Really? Sweet! What's it about?"

She waited as he thought about it, his eyes on the ground at her feet. While she waited, KITT filled in the silence, "I can't think of a reason why we can't tell her, Mike."

Mike looked back up to her eyes, "Have you ever heard of Karr?"

_Karr? Kitt's evil _twin_ Karr? The Knight Automated Roving Robot?_ "Yeah-

"Karr?" Came Kitt's startled reply from behind her, interrupting her thoughts, "What about Karr?

"Long story short, we're trying to find him." Mike replied, "He was here a few minutes ago. I'm guessing you haven't seen him."

"Michael, could you please tell us what exactly is going on?" Melody stepped out of the way so she could see Kitt as he spoke, "He's been reactivated? How is that possible? The last time I saw him, he was a hundred pieces."

"It's sort of a long story."

"We've got time." Melody wanted to know, and she sure as hell wasn't leaving until she found out. Mike sighed and shook his head.

"Like I said, it's a long story and we don't have the time. I shouldn't even be talking to you right now."

"Is Karr around here somewhere?"

"Maybe. Probably, but we don't know."

"You lost him?" Kitt said from his place beside Melody.

"We didn't lose him, exactly. One second he was here, and then he wasn't. When we saw you, I was actually hoping you picked him up somewhere on the streets."

"I didn't even pick _you_ up on my scanners." Kitt pointed out, "I didn't know either of you were here until I saw you."

"That's strange."

Mike looked down at KITT's scanner, "What's strange, KITT?"

"I never picked up Kitt, either. In fact…" he paused and we waited, "I am unable to scan anything within a three foot diameter of the vehicle."

"Can you figure out why?"

"I am unable to access my long-range scanners, so no, Mike, I do not know why. Most likely interference caused by the buildings."

Melody looked at the Trans Am, "What about you, Kitt?"

"I'm having the same problem."

Mike stood a little straighter as he asked, "Could this have something to do with Karr's vanishing act?"

Melody shrugged, "It's possible."

"Because KITT was tracking Karr just fine back at the stoplight. Then a truck pulled out in front of us, Karr was still heading north when he suddenly changed direction and pulled into the alley. It didn't look like he was planning on stopping to begin with."

I crossed my arms, "What's that mean?"

"KITT said that Karr received a message before he took off. He kept the line open when he came into the alley."

"You think someone told him to come here?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then Karr could still be here." Melody's eyes drifted toward the entrance to the parking garage on the right, then back to Mike, "Should we check it out?"

He smiled and stood up straight, "We?"

Melody walked toward him, arms crossed, "Yes, we. You, me, my Kitt and your KITT."

"Uh, no." he shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because you have no idea what you're doing."

"Hey, I just helped you figure out where Karr was hiding."

"KITT and I would've checked out the garage ourselves."

"_And_ I made you remember Karr's phone call, and how he could've been told to come here."

"Again, we would've figured it out."

"Whatever. Mike, just let me come, please! We won't get in the way."

"Melody," Kitt spoke up from behind them, "We should probably leave this to Mike and KITT."

She turned to face the Trans Am, "What? Come on, Kitt! You want to find Karr, I know you do."

"I do. But what would your father say if he found out we went after Karr?"

Melody shuddered internally. She hated lectures, especially lectures from her parents. _But does Kitt honestly think I'll let this slip by? Ever since I found out about the SSC, I've wanted to work there. Even if Mike was the field agent, I could do something, _anything,_ even if it meant working with Billy for god's sake! If I could catch Karr, I could prove Mom and Dad that I've got what it takes to work at FLAG…_ "You do know I'm coming with you, right?" she said after an initial pause from thought, "I promise we won't get in the way, Mike. We'll help. If you don't want us, just say so and we're gone."

Mike put his hands in his pockets and looked at his shoes, thinking. Melody watched him, almost willing him to agree, until he sighed, "Fine." He looked past Melody's smile and to Kitt, who seemed to sink on his tires in defeat, "But if anything happens, you get her out of here. Got it?"

"I do. But are you really allowing this?"

He pulled his hands from his pockets and held them up, "Do I have a choice?" he turned and moved toward the door, which KITT opened for him. Mike turned and looked at Melody, "She's too stubborn to leave."

Melody laughed and opened Kitt's door, "Like you wouldn't do the same thing." She collapsed into the seat and let Mike enter the parking garage first, then followed a car length away from him.

"Do you realize how much trouble you're getting the both of us into?" Kitt asked, "I'll be lucky if I'm anything but scrap metal when Michael and Bonnie find out about this."

"They'd never turn you into scrap metal. Besides, who said they're going to find out?"

"You're not going to tell them?"

"Nope. And neither are you."

"Melody, I can't lie to them!"

"Don't think of it as lying. It's more like…"

"Lying."

"No. You're navigating around and embellishing the truth."

"In other words we're lying."

"Don't worry about it Kitt, I've got it covered."

"I don't like it."

"Either you lie, or you get the wrath of Michael." She shrugged, "Your choice."

Dramatic pause, then, "Fine."

Melody smiled, "That's the spirit." Kitt was quiet as they navigated through the garage, never far behind the Mustang. They went from the first level to the third, seeing nothing of interest.

"Do you think he's in here, Kitt?"

"We didn't see him on the street, and they chased him into the alley." Kitt said logically, "This is the only place he could've gone."

"Well I don't see him anywhere… You having any luck?"

"My long-range scanners are still disabled, and I haven't seen him anywhere."

She sighed, "Well crap. You might've lucked out, Kitt." As she guided the car up onto the fourth and final level, Melody took back her words.


	6. Sibling Rivalry

**AN:** I'm sorry for the perspective change again. I was experimenting with the previous chapter, and didn't really like it. Sorry, I am indecisive. This chapter, and all of the previous and the following, is in third person. Sorry for that. X)

**Chapter Five:** Sibling Rivalry

At first their view of the fourth level of the parking garage was blocked by the Mustang. Mike guided it to the left, leaving Melody a space to pull up next to him. She blinked as sunlight entered the cabin in a rush, and waited as her eyes adjusted. Most of the fourth level was empty, with a few cars scattered around the edges of the building.

One car stood in the center, the dark paint gleaming in the sunlight, dulling the glow of the scanner on the prow. Melody pictured it glowing in a fierce amber blaze; imagined the car locked in a battle for revenge against Kitt and her father in a dusty clearing under a bridge, like she had always known it. She felt pity for the car, but it didn't take long for it to turn to anger. What had her father ever done to Karr? It wasn't Michael's fault he was deactivated, and the renegade Pontiac had no right trying to hurt him or her mother. That's what Melody thought, at least.

And said car, Melody noticed, was beginning to speed toward them. Melody's eyes darted to Kitt's voice modulator and back up as the sound of Karr's engine and turbines grew louder, "What's he doing, Kitt?"

"It looks like he's going to turbo boost over us."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "But where's he gunna go?"

"Down." Kitt's voice was laced with warning, and Melody checked out the gap between the rear of Kitt and KITT in the rear view mirror. There was a good 30 feet behind them before the ramp dropped down to the only escape route Karr had. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Mustang beside them start backing up, tires fighting for traction on the pavement. She mimicked Mike and threw the Trans Am into reverse.

Karr was already a step ahead of them, and Melody resisted closing her eyes as he launched himself above the two opposing cars. He landed smoothly -almost mockingly- behind them, with barely enough room to stick the landing. Mike gave chase down the ramp in reverse, followed by Melody. She performed a near perfect 180 at the bottom and cheered in delight, more than a little surprised at what she'd just done.

When the car was correctly aligned once more, Karr was tearing through the building, and it wasn't long before he was down the second ramp and out of sight, KITT right on his heels.

"Melody, this really isn't a good idea." Kitt informed her once again as she followed in pursuit. They weren't ten feet from KITT's bumper, and she was determined to stick close. Sudden stops, she had decided, could be made by Kitt.

"Come on Kitt, relax. Nothing can go wrong as long as I'm with you, right? You've always kept Dad safe."

"Is that why you're doing this? To be like your father?"

The question was innocent, and Melody knew he wasn't trying to accuse her of anything. Still though, she couldn't help but be defensive, "…No. I'm doing this because Karr's a danger to everyone he comes in contact with, and I'm not sure Mike and KITT can catch him themselves."

"You doubt them?"

"Of course not. But it's Karr, Kitt. From what I've heard, he's ruthless and unpredictable. I mean, it took you guys days to catch him, didn't it? You could've used some help back then, right?"

"Yes, but this isn't 1985, Melody. KITT is much more advanced than I ever was, no matter how much I hate to admit it. Given that and the fact that Karr hasn't been activated in years, I think KITT and your brother can handle it themselves." Kitt knew he couldn't stop Melody from doing the things she wanted. She was too much like her father, her mother, her brother… None of which were easily swayed.

Melody gasped suddenly and Kitt internally flinched as Karr side-swiped an oncoming coupe. Because of his inability to scan anything in the building, Kitt settled on a quick visual observation of the passengers, deciding the woman and child in the vehicle were alright.

Kitt growled to himself. Karr never changed. Anyone and anything in his way was deemed a nuisance, and was just another obstacle to overcome, one way or another. There were few ways to stop him, and now he knew Michael's tricks. Kitt was at a loss… He hoped Mike knew what he was doing.

/-/

All three supercars passed the second floor without any more casualties, and Mike was determined to keep it that way. He was trusting Kitt with keeping an eye on Melody, but he wasn't too concerned. _She knows when to back down, even if she doesn't want to._

"KITT, contact Melody." In an instant, Melody was up on the overhead, and Mike assumed he was on Kitt's monitor.

"What's up, Mike?" Melody asked, in a tone a bit too conversational for the moment.

"Listen. When we get out of here I want you to go left and a street over; there's less traffic over there. I'll make sure Karr takes the closer left street, then I'll go right. Follow him on your street and we'll have him surrounded." He thought she could handle that simple direction. She was his half-sister after all, which logically meant she couldn't be all that stupid.

"Alright. I go to the far left, you go right, and we keep Karr in the middle. What if he doesn't take the middle street?"

"Then follow him."

"What?"

"Stay behind him and KITT and I will get there when we can. Keep the link open the whole time. Got it?"

Melody nodded, "Yeah."

The first floor was much more crowded than the other three, with no space left unoccupied. Right off the ramp Mike took a hard right while Karr continued forward. Now it was a race to the fourth and final exit; the one that meant either freedom or recapture. The Mustang raced to Karr's only chance of escape, and was cut short by the two-toned car. Mike swore and followed in pursuit, cutting in ahead of Melody.

"Hold on, KITT."

"Mike, what are you-" KITT was cut short as his driver rear-ended the Trans Am, effectively pushing it into the alley. Karr spun left, and Mike took KITT right.

Mike heard Kitt's turbines behind him, and he checked the mirror in time to see the black car skid out of the complex and race after its lookalike. The Mustang burst into traffic and took off up the street, with the other two cars now out of sight. He looked from the orb to the street, wondering which way Karr went, "KITT, you got you scanners back yet?"

"Yes, Michael." KITT pulled up a map of the immediate area and shrunk the window containing the link to Kitt. The map showed three vehicles highlighted; two red, one gold. Mike felt a bit of relief when he noticed the gold vehicle in the center street, the red ones on each street to its left and right, as planned, "It appears that the steel girders supporting the surrounding buildings and the parking complex itself contained significant amounts of lead."

"Karr must have known about the lead, and used it to surprise us."

"Or someone told him, Mike." Melody explained from her side of the link, "You said it didn't look like he was planning on turning into the alley. Someone must be tracking him, and told him where he might have a chance at losing us."

"Or they're watching him."

"Well," said Kitt, "Let's hope they're not watching us."

/-/

From the nothing that surrounded him came a sudden pulse, waking Karr from a forced, very sudden shut-down. The pulse was familiar, but only vaguely. He knew for a fact it was never there when he was first activated. _Yesterday was the first time I've ever known of it, this new program or device, which means… That woman. Wren put it there. She thinks she can control me? No. I belong to no one…_

Karr's scanners were coming back online, and he found with a start that he was no longer in Tracy's garage. In fact, he was miles away from the area, at an abandoned airplane hangar by the looks of it. And he was still moving. Karr scanned the vehicle and discovered that it contained another AI.

_Kitt…? No. This is not the Kitt I know… _

His scan of this new AI gave him much of interest, which, he would make sure, to look into later. The vehicle sped up as the AI discovered Karr's reactivation, and Karr caught the face of its driver in the rear-view mirror. He saved the image in its own file, already filling up with faces, places, and all of what he knew of his situation. Going back to his earlier scan of his captor, he settled on the strength of the contraption holding him in place, and judged that a reverse turbo boost combined with a sudden braking maneuver would do just fine. He tried it.

It worked.

He fell to the ground as planned and Karr, despite expectations, didn't retreat. He watched in silence as the tow truck transformed from an F450 to a new Mustang. A Shelby GT500KR, to be precise, with a red scanner taking place in the air intake. It reminded him too much of Kitt, and Karr ran another scan. In turn, Karr felt the gentle but prodding sensation of the AI's scanners running through the car and his systems, and he blocked them. Karr learned of nothing but the obvious from the Mustang, and turned his attention to the call he'd received moments after coming back online. He'd ignored it until now, more than a little angry with Wren and her secrets. Keeping a close eye on the other car and its driver, he answered Wren's frustrated calling.

"Karr! I suggest you answer me _right now._"

"What do you want?"

"Leave where you are, immediately. Coordinates will be sent to you; do not let Mike Knight follow you."

_Mike Knight? This man is too young to be Michael Knight. They're father and son? _"This man is the son of Michael Knight. Am I correct?"

"I'll explain later! You have the coordinates. Now leave, Karr!"

Karr didn't respond as he pushed the car into a 180 degree turn and mapped out the quickest route to the location Wren gave him. The other car, unsurprisingly, gave chase.

"Answer my question."

Wren sighed on her end of the line, content that Karr was on his way, "Yes, he's Michael Knight's son."

"What about the car?"

"I'm assuming you mean KITT. That is the Knight Industries Three Thousand; the newest version of the original Kitt. I'd let you know that Mike is his driver, but I'm sure you figured that out."

Karr careened out of the hangar's fenced in grounds and onto the highway, his pursuers not far behind. He thought about what Wren told him, all the while paying close attention to KITT. _If they created a new version of Kitt… Could they have also done the same with myself? It's possible… Later, I'll have to ask Wren. For now…_ Karr drew his attention back to the task at hand; losing his tail.

"Karr, we're watching you through the satellites." Wren told him after about five minutes of being chased down the highway, "You're not making much progress. I told you to lose them."

"I'm trying."

"Well try harder."

Karr nearly growled at her across the line. _Who does she think she is? Well, for all I know she's the president of the damn United States. I don't know anything about her… except that she pisses me off. _

KITT was gaining on him as they neared the city, and Karr tapped into the electrical system for the stoplights ahead. As he neared they changed to green, and right before he entered the intersection, back to red. KITT slowed slightly, but not enough. Karr's luck turned for the better when he saw an 18 wheeler approaching the light. He left this one alone and made it through with barely enough room to spare, while his trailers where forced to either stop or crash.

"Take a left into the next alley."

"What if I don't?"

"Just do it, and go into the parking garage."

Nearly against his will, Karr took a hard left into the alley, "Fine. Are you happy now?"

"I won't be happy until you're in my sight. We're going to lose contact while you're in here; the supports on the buildings contain lead. But go inside and wait. They won't be able to scan you there, but there's a good chance they'll come looking. By now, it's the only chance you've got at losing them."

Upon hearing Wren say he'd lose contact with her, he increased his speed. The sooner he got away, the better. But Karr had to admit she was right. KITT was faster than Karr, in his current state, and it was his best chance of escape. He did as told, and drove into the top level of the garage. As soon as he emerged from the last ramp, Wren was back. Karr closed the link and watched as KITT parked next to the garage. Wren had been right; Karr, being on the uppermost level and no longer surrounded by the concrete, his scanners were functioning properly. And though KITT was below, he wasn't picking up Karr, almost literally right on top of him. Karr picked up another curious vehicle approaching from the north, and Karr knew immediately who it was. Kitt. He watched, using the security cameras on the surrounding buildings as his aid. A girl stepped out, and Karr's check on her proved successful. Melody Rae Knight. Age: 18. Mother: Bonnie Barstow. Father: Michael Knight. _Why am I not surprised? But how many children does Knight have? And where is he? I had assumed Kitt never left his side._

For a while he listened to the conversation between the humans, before they started into the garage. Karr waited patiently for them to join him. He heard them before he ever saw them, and prepared himself for a number of things. Instant or delayed attack. EMP. Hell, even attempted conversation. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was ready to surprise them. He revved his engine as the Mustang appeared from the dim light of the third level, followed closely by a car he hadn't seen in years, and, he had hoped, to never see again. Kitt was mirror image of his former self, but they were nothing to compare. _We may look alike… But we couldn't be more different._

Melody stopped Kitt next to the other car, and Karr prepared himself to turbo boost. He made numerous calculations as Mike and Melody both threw their cars into reverse, and Karr launched the Trans Am up and over the cars in a simple, effortless motion. His first real turbo boost in years ended up better than expected, landing with a jarring thud that shook the entire car and even some of his tightly packed circuit boards. _That will need to be fixed…_

He didn't stop when he nearly t-boned an SUV. He didn't pay attention as the range on his scanners diminished from a few miles to a few feet. All he was focused on were the cars behind, and the garage ahead. Every move he made was done without calculations; even if he cared to avoid a vehicle or judge KITT's exact movements, the programs necessary would be too late to help him. In a way all too familiar, he was on his own.

The only time he paid attention to something other than the immediate challenge was when an oncoming car got in his way. He took off some paint and the mirror, made a few dents and left he passengers in a state of shock, but Karr was unfazed. Behind him KITT sped up, his driver obviously somewhat frustrated. Karr gave him nothing to hope for as he sped down the final ramps and onto the lowest level, where Mike attempted to cut him off. Karr, though, was already a step ahead of him. He passed KITT without swerving as the Mustang came to a stop on his right. Karr made a break for it to the exit, but not a moment later KITT was back behind him. Karr jumped internally as he was rear-ended and sent careening into the alley. KITT went right, and Karr heard Kitt come after him out of the complex.

Karr was determined to lose them. He took a right on the first street, and wasn't surprised when Kitt didn't follow, or when Wren called him again.

"Good job, Karr."

"What do you mean 'good job'? I was better off before."

"You're doing fine. Just relax, and-"

"How do you expect me to relax? The whole damn Knight family is after me! Whatever this is, it isn't worth being deactivated a third time, and it's about time I got some answers."

"And I said I'd give them to you," Wren's voice was calm the whole time she'd been speaking. Her voice was stressed earlier, but she'd obviously calmed down since then, "When you get here, I'll give you your answers."

"You will tell me what's going on now."

"I won't. You don't need to know right now."

Karr was about to throw profanity at her, but he stopped. He'd been monitoring the other Knight Industries vehicles, which were traveling parallel to him on each side street. Suddenly two more entered the southernmost edge of his scanner's range and for a moment, Karr panicked.

"How many more AIs are there?" He growled threateningly. Now, he was a bit more than pissed.

Wren laughed from her side, "Don't worry; these aren't Knight Industries vehicles. They're mine."

Karr thought about that, and remembered. Wren said she'd copied Karr himself, and was building two more AIs… So that's why she was in such a good mood. Her newest toys were finished, and now she gets to see them in action, "I never did tell you how much I hate the fact that you had my circuitry copied to make them.."

"I knew you wouldn't like it. That's why I did it while you were… incapacitated. And try not to fight with them; they're expensive. They'll help you get away, as long as you cooperate with them."

"You said they wouldn't be done for days."

"I wanted them completed today. And you should know, Karr, that whatever I want," she paused, "I get."


	7. Dead End

**Chapter Six:** Dead End

Mike swerved to avoid oncoming traffic. He was watching a map on KITT's overhead of the streets, with two red dots symbolizing himself and Melody, and the gold in the middle, which was Karr. He was making sure Karr stayed where they wanted him, and that Melody didn't do anything, well, stupid. She was keeping up pretty well, and already getting ahead of Karr to cut him off while Mike stayed even with him to make sure he didn't go back. He was a bit impressed at how they'd both known exactly what could be done without ever saying anything. Technically he should've been the one cutting Karr off, being more experienced, but it was a simple maneuver, and if he turned after she cuts him off, Mike would be the one with the more difficult task of stopping him permanently.

Mike was watching the pulsing red and gold points when a view of the KITT Cave intruded his vision. Sarah was standing before a computer, with Billy and Zoe on either side. They didn't seem too terribly busy, despite the situation. He supposed there wasn't much for them to do but locate Karr's friend, anyway.

Without taking her eyes off the monitor, Sarah addressed Mike, "What is Melody doing there? Are you crazy?"

"Hi, Sarah," Melody said over her connection to Mike, "Good to see you, too."

"Oh." The screen back at FLAG split to give Sarah a view of the siblings. Sarah smiled guiltily, "Hi, Melody."

"She invited herself, but she's fine." Mike answered her question, "Kitt's keeping her in check, and she's actually helping… a little."

Melody snorted.

"Melody, this is dangerous." Sarah continued, "You know that, right?"

"Sarah, relax. Like Mike said, I'm fine."

"But you've never done something like this before! You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Really? It looks pretty easy on _Cops._"

"Melody!"

"I'm kidding. Sarah please, you sound like my dad."

"He approved of this?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Ugh…"

"Don't tell him anything, Sarah. Please?"

"Mel-"

"Sorry to interrupt," Kitt spoke, "but we have a problem."

Melody turned her attention to the voice modulator, "What do you mean?"

"Look in the mirror."

She did as told, and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What is that?"

"What?" Mike asked from across the line, "KITT?"

"Two cars are approaching at high speed from the south, one behind Melody and one behind us."

Sarah got an aerial view of the cars via satellite. They were two black Camaros, the one behind Melody sporting silver racing stripes. They were approaching fast, expertly weaving through the traffic, "What are they doing?"

"They appear to be chasing us." KITT said.

Melody sped up as she watched the car in the mirror. As of now they still had a chance, but Melody had a feeling their window was rapidly closing.

Kitt replaced Mike's face on the monitor with a view of the black Camaro behind them, "KITT, have you already scanned them?"

"I have."

"So you know what they are?"

"Yes, but I don't quite understand."

"What are you two talking about?" Mike asked, feeling too far out of the loop.

"Michael, the vehicles following us are AI's."

Mike and Melody shared a glance through the link, and the humans found themselves speechless. Finally, Sarah spoke.

"Can you tell how sophisticated they are?"

Mike gave her a look, "Why does that matter?"

"If they're simple AI's, then they shouldn't be too hard to deal with. An EMP could work if they're not equipped with a way to protect themselves against it."

Mike mentally slapped himself, realizing it was a bit of a dumb question.

"I am unable to make an accurate conclusion regarding their complexity."

"All right, KITT. Be careful, guys," Sarah warned, "You're outnumbered now."

Mike thought about that, and was suddenly thankful for having his sister along. He was sure KITT could take on one car, maybe two, but not three. Mike definitely wasn't a stranger to testing KITT's limits, but this was too much to ask for.

"Talk to ya later, Sarah." Mike dismissed her, all business now. The link was closed, giving the field operative time to think, "KITT, try the EMP."

"Deploying EMP."

A sudden, low echo emanated from the car. Hoping for a stroke of luck, Mike checked the mirror, only to find the Camaro confidently holding its ground.

"The EMP had no effect. What do you suggest we do now?"

Mike gave the orb a questioning glance, "You're asking me? You're the supercar; aren't you supposed to know all the answers?"

"Normally I would have much more to offer for advice, yes. But as you know, this is not an ordinary situation."

He rolled his eyes, knowing KITT had seen it. Sometimes he thought the Mustang was a little full of himself, but right now it didn't matter. He stole another look at the map on the overhead. They were getting close to the freeway, and time was running out. He was fairly certain Melody could handle it, though if she couldn't, Kitt would make a good replacement. Mike felt much more comfortable before the twin annoyances showed up… now he was just hoping they still had a chance.

"Is anyone with them?"

From the other end of the link, Kitt answered, "They're alone… and I find it too large a coincidence to think of them with anyone other than Karr." He paused, "Melody!"

"Got it." Melody reassured him as she dodged around a car that had pulled out of an alley not twenty feet from the Trans Am. She was still concentrated on the selected intersection, and making sure she was far enough ahead of Karr to complete the maneuver. The Camaro behind her was gaining fast, and she was doing her best to keep from getting worried. It wasn't working.

The accelerator lit up as she pushed the car faster. Cars honked from all directions as she careened through the street, and the Camaro was getting too close for comfort. She ran through a list of possibilities in her head, and drew a blank.

"What's Karr doing?"

Kitt showed her a map of the area. Karr wasn't doing anything different than he was before the cars showed up, and Melody wondered what would happen now that their plan had slowly begun to fall apart.

/-/

A call had come in on his private channel. He'd not even wanted to acknowledge it, thinking it might be the one person he hated most at the moment. But as he navigated his way through the moderately busy street and the call remained persistent, his curiosity got to him and he looked. It was unfamiliar, meaning it wasn't Wren.

He answered it.

"Karr," spoke a light male voice, "this is Trenton." The voice was pleasant, but held a computerized undertone not unlike his own. It wasn't as flowing as Karr's though, the words not as smooth. From this he gathered the AI wasn't yet very experienced in speech.

He traced the call back to the Camaro following Mike Knight and asked, "Do you belong to Wren?"

"I do. My name is Trenton, and the other is Detroit. We were sent by Wren to assist you in evading your pursuers."

Karr didn't speak as he both thought about their odd names and assessed his situation. He was approaching the freeway, but he wasn't in the clear. Mike Knight was on the street to his right, and not attempting to overtake him. Melody and Kitt were on his left, though a block and a half ahead. He knew what they were planning, and could probably get away if he weren't in the shape he was. As a result of his turbo boost, the car's radiator had been damaged and the engine was already beginning to overheat. Not much else had been impaired, but the radiator was beginning to become an issue he needed to deal with, soon.

When Karr didn't respond, Trenton continued, "We have been instructed to stand by until we have been given an order."

"By Wren?" he asked.

"No. Wren has told us to follow commands given by you until further notice to prevent any possible complications."

He knew immediately that Wren had only given him this opportunity because the Trenton and Detroit were so inexperienced. They'd only been activated a few hours at the most_,_ and already they were on a mission. He knew that any 'complications' would be caused solely by the Camaros.

Karr slowed as he was cut off by a small car. Annoyingly, almost as if they were connected, KITT too slowed slightly to keep pace. Not for the first time he noticed the most likely street Melody had chosen to take to stop him. The block was twice as long as normal, with no street cutting through its center, leaving nowhere to run. He'd noticed a few blocks back what was happening, and he could have stopped it… but he didn't.

Not because he couldn't, though his odds of success weren't as high as he'd like, but because he almost wanted them to catch him, to take him away from... _this._ He despised Wren. Her personality, the way she spoke and carried herself, like she was superior. But what drove him crazy about this woman was what she'd done to him. He hated it. Being stolen, copied, manipulated and used, just like what the Foundation had done to him, so many years ago.

She reactivated him. She's only giving him what he wanted most. She gave him another chance at life, and he's clinging to the thought of it, thinking maybe the third time's the charm.

He'd considered letting the Foundation operatives take him away from her. But what would _they_ do to him? Deactivate him yet again? He knew sure as hell they wouldn't let him go off on his own. But they could help him.

On the other hand, Wren had said she'd let him go when all this was over. Was she telling the truth? Probably not. Humans were difficult to understand, especially one like this. But at least he had a chance with her, right? But she'd used him, and now that she's got her own versions of him, she'd get rid of him… _right?_ There were only two things he was sure of right now.

One, he had to make a decision.

Two… he wasn't sure if he could.

He also didn't know what was keeping him from _making_ that decision. Was it what he wanted, or was it his dominant program practically screaming at him that Wren would use that remote to deactivate him again, without warning, if only temporarily? That the chances of survival if he gave up and was captured were slim to none? There was no winning…

He was in a rut.

But no matter what he chose, he'd be caught soon enough, forced to a halt by his twin or the Mustang as a result of engine failure. The fact that he was still one of the most advanced cars in the world had hardly any effect on the situation; he was still a car, the car still _ran_ like a car, and though he may be able to last longer in this type of situation than a normal vehicle, the result would always be the same.

Karr let out an electronic sigh and replied, "I'm sure you know what to do, then."

Trenton replied quickly, "If I am correct, then yes."

"Then do it."


	8. Twin Cities

**AN:** Sorry for taking forever. I won't make excuses, other than I am the worst procrastinator I know. I also hope you take no offence to a comment on Trenton and Detroit as cities. I like Detroit, really… not so much Trenton, though. It's just New Jersey in general I don't quite like. ;)  
Anyway, I'm also working on a Knight Rider-TKR crossover one-shot (wow, that's a mouthful,) so be on the lookout for that probably within the next few days, possibly the next week, if you're interested. Thanks for all the reviews everyone, and I'm glad to see some people like the story. It really does make me happy to see that, and also thank you to everyone who has read it, even if you don't review. I'll try getting chapters out faster, but I make no promises for fear of breaking them. Thanks again!

**Chapter Seven:** Twin Cities

Melody checked the driver's side mirror one last time. The silver and black Camaro was still there, less than fifty feet from Kitt's rear bumper, but holding its ground. She checked the map on the monitor and knew exactly what would happen. It didn't take a genius to figure it out, but Melody said nothing about it. She was sure the other three knew what was going on, and was confident in saying that Karr did, too.

Pure determination set her worries aside as she hit the emergency brake and sent the Trans Am into a drift around the corner. Instantly the Camaro was sent into action if the sudden movement had brought it to life. Kitt warned her of the danger, but there was no point. Neither of them could have prevented the sudden side-impact that sent the car spinning.

It was over within seconds, but Melody was left disoriented and lost, "Where's it at, Kitt?"

"Behind us, and I suggest we move before we're hit again."

Melody obeyed, and several cars veered left and right to avoid the supercars that had so suddenly appeared. The accelerator lit up and the tires left scars on the pavement as Melody carved a path through the street. Karr was gaining speed, not letting her advance any more than they already had.

That's when Kitt let her know that he was now able to scan the Camaros, and doing just that revealed why, "While they are not simple AI's, they don't appear to be complete."

"What do you mean?" Melody gasped as they were rear ended once. Then twice. Kitt's bumper flexed but held strong as the MBS did its job, and unsurprisingly, the Camaro kept its form as well.

"There are many incomplete programs in the system. Only a few are functional, and they mainly deal with operation of the vehicle. I believe I'm able to scan it now because it's unable to keep the program open while it's occupied with more challenging actions than driving in a straight line."

"That's weird… Anything about who made them?"

"I'm afraid not. Files containing anything of use to us are inaccessible. However, I can tell you that Karr will be forced to stop soon."

"What? Why?"

"When he turbo boosted over us, he badly damaged his radiator. A thermal scan reveals that the engine is beginning to overheat."

They were rear ended a third time on the short stretch of road. Karr was making his way to the intersection, and the Camaro wasn't making things easy.

After what seemed like an eternity, Melody took a hard left onto the street. The Camaro cut off Karr and pulled around to Melody's right. They hit the freeway. Mike and the other Camaro soon appeared behind Karr, trapping him from behind. They were almost equally matched, but Melody noticed how the Camaro never got too terribly close to the Mustang unless it was to shove it away.

"Melody," Kitt started, surprise evident in his voice, "I've received an incoming call from the car beside us."

_They want to _talk_ to us?_ Melody blinked, a bit nervous, "Go ahead."

Suddenly an unfamiliar male voice took over Kitt's speakers, "Hello, Melody Knight. Kitt."

Melody looked at the car through the window in bewilderment. _How does he know my name? Or Kitt's?_ "Who are you?" she nearly rolled her eyes at her question, but she couldn't think of anything better.

"I am Detroit; the other is Trenton."

Melody briefly wondered why they were named after two of America's crappiest cities, but dropped the thought as he continued.

"We demand you cease your pursuit at once, or we will be forced to end it ourselves."

The striped Camaro –Detroit- kept his distance from Kitt, not engaging in any physical contact. Maybe he really meant it. She saw Karr behind them in the mirrors. Michael was behind _him_, with the other Camaro, presumably Trenton, on his left. They weren't trying to run them off the road, like earlier, and Melody assumed they were trying to help keep Karr's engine as cool as possible… which meant Karr couldn't be participating in anything drastic without facing the consequences. They'd have to get rid of their tail before he needed to run… and make sure they had plenty of time to get where they were going. Coming to a not-so-original conclusion, she decided she'd give stalling a shot.

"Who are you working for?"

The Camaro came at them suddenly, and Melody pulled away. Detroit's fender made contact with Kitt's, and Melody pushed back. It was over as soon as it happened, Detroit making it clear stalling wasn't an option. He spoke again, but not to Melody, "Kitt, as your driver is not complying, I will give you the option instead. Discontinue your chase and we will leave you without conflict. If you do not, you will be forced to surrender."

Kitt didn't speak, but scanned the Camaro again. He knew they were giving them the decision of stopping on their own was most likely because they didn't particularly_ want_ to fight, being ill prepared and with an injured player. Once again the scan revealed nothing of use, as he ended with the same result the first time; limited access when it came to the car, no access to anything pertaining their maker. His options were limited… he and KITT could probably take on the foreign cars, though apparently they weren't as vulnerable as he'd originally thought. They proved that when Detroit caught on to Melody. They also had something protecting them, and Kitt assumed it wasn't the MBS, but KITT's nanotechnology.

Taking far longer than usual to respond, Melody asked, "Kitt?"

"Hold on, Melody."

He sent a message to KITT, telling him to warn Mike. There was only one way he'd let Karr get away.

"What? What do you-"

In an instant, Kitt put the car into Auto Cruise and stole control from Melody's grip. She backed off, surprised, and held onto the door handle. Kitt hit the brakes and sent the car around in a reverse J-turn as the Camaro passed them before settling back next to the Trans Am. Kitt kept a gap between them, taking into account its movements as well as Karr's.

"Good God, Kitt! Thanks for the warning!" Melody complained, still grasping the door handle with white knuckles. She pried them from the door and couldn't help but look out the rear window, jump as Kitt reacted to Karr's sudden movements. They now faced him head on, less than fifteen feet away from Kitt's bumper. He tried to pass and Kitt kept him from doing so, though Melody feared the feeling of speeding down the freeway at high speeds in reverse.

"You're welcome." For once Kitt's sarcasm was mild, the response itself quickly disregarded, "Now, try not to bump the controls." Abiding Kitt's warning, she tucked her feet close to the seat, not wanting to be at fault for any unexpected collisions. Returning her wide-eyed gaze to the windshield, she noticed Karr's scanner picked up its pace in what Melody concluded was frustration. She could see Mike's face through KITT's windshield, their link previously disconnected, and she was fairly certain he was smiling at her. She'd be sure to wipe the smirk off his face later.

She gasped as the car suddenly lurched and vibrated, seeing the Detroit out of the corner of her eye pressed against Kitt's side, forcing him off the road. Kitt was standing his ground fairly well, though it was obvious the ditch was steadily approaching with every shove the Camaro offered. Karr made his way behind the Camaro, waiting for an opportunity to pass. "Kitt, you should probably hurry it up... Karr's makin' a break for it."

"Patience, Melody," he said in a calm, determined voice, "I know what I'm doing."

She sighed, still not regretting her decision to assist her brother, but suddenly wishing she hadn't eaten so much for lunch. She was starting to feel car-sick. Or was it nerves… either way, she didn't want to hear it from Kitt later when she did the Technicolor yawn on his dash.

Drawn out of her thoughts by a quiet whirring, she asked, "What _are_ you doing?"

She would have been jolted out of her seat if it weren't for the restraint system, and she threw the Camaro a dirty look. Kitt pushed back with equal force, and the game was over. For now.

Kitt never replied to Melody, not telling her the whirring she'd heard was his grappling hook rotating under the prow of the car. Instead, he locked in his target on the forward grappling hook's trajectory, aiming for Karr's undercarriage, and fired. The hook was just small enough to slip under the prow of the car and catch when Kitt reeled it in. He gave the Camaro a final shove, effectively closing off the passage it was forcing open. Kitt floored it, effectively confusing Melody all the more. The speedometer raced through the triple digits as he towed Karr out of Mike's way.

He knew Karr would defend himself in some way, fight against Kitt's direct approach, but he didn't expect much more out of his twin. He certainly didn't anticipate having a conversation, no matter how short it would be.

"Kitt!" Karr projected his voice through his external speakers, and Kitt had to keep from faltering in his movements. His voice was the same as his memory had preserved it over the years. It was as menacing as ever, if not more so now. Just that one word, his own name, told him this much. He saw Melody sit at attention in the driver's seat when she heard him speak, and frown as he continued, "What do you think you're doing!"

"I'm not letting you get away, Karr," he replied steadily, shoving away the memories, "Not again."

Kitt remembered the laser, and nearly panicked for a moment until he recalled it being obliterated –along with most of Karr- in their last encounter, and Karr wasn't around when Kitt had his 'standard' one installed. There would be no cutting through the cable that connected them, and it was too strong to snap. Kitt couldn't retract it unless it was unhooked. They'd be stuck until they stopped.

Kitt pushed himself faster and tugged Karr past Camaro in one swift motion, though the Knight 2000 was beginning to struggle with the task. After they passed Karr had put the brakes on, and it was taking all the car had to force him to follow. Mike pursued behind, and Melody watched in amazement and brief horror as she realized what Kitt had been doing. Once Karr was out of the way, Mike hit the Camaro's left rear fender, and it was forced in front of the Mustang. Its tires caught on the pavement and it was sent spinning into the air at 90 miles an hour. Mike swerved to avoid the airborne vehicle, which landed on the pavement a second later with crash that made Melody wince. The car itself was completely intact as it tumbled along the ground, losing nothing and not even gaining a scratch or two to show for it. It finally came to a halt on its side, struggling to regain its upright position. Melody assumed it'd be there for a while.

Mike was now pushing Karr from behind, assisting Kitt in his efforts, though Kitt's work was done. It went as he'd hoped, but now there was a problem; he was still attached to Karr. Great…

Trenton made his way toward them after completely ignoring his lookalike, setting his sights on KITT. Since it seemed their only mode of offensive capability, Trenton paralleled KITT and shoved him away from Karr, forcing Kitt to once again take on the brunt of the tow.

"Kitt, what the hell are you doing?" Melody asked, now thoroughly confused.

"Pulling Karr." Karr, in turn, put the car in reverse, and was pulling against him. It was an all-out tug-of-war, but Kitt's grappling hook cable held tight. They slowed to 60mph, then 50. Smoke poured out from Karr's tires, and Melody lost sight of her brother and KITT.

"Oh, really?" she rolled her eyes, "I'm serious." She tried looking around the smoke, but the Mustang was lost behind the cloud.

"Getting away from that Camaro wasn't possible in our situation," he explained, sounding a bit distracted as he thought of the consequences of stopping on the freeway. Luckily there were hardly any cars where they were, already several miles out of the city.

Melody had to agree with him, now that she thought about it. Whenever she sped up the other car followed, and it was proven that a pushing match was getting them nowhere. They could've slowed down but they'd still have the same problem, and would even aid Karr in cooling his engine. What Kitt did was more beneficial for them when it came to making Karr overheat, as well as eliminate one of their problems. One down, two to go, "Okay, I get it now." She had calmed down considerably since the striped Camaro had been taken care of, "What next? Please don't tell me you plan on pulling him until he catches fire."

"I was sort of hoping you'd help me with that."

"Pulling him? Hell no!"

"You know what I mean."

She did. But she had no idea what to do next, and there was no way she'd be getting out and unhooking Karr any time soon.

"Any bright ideas on how to end this?" Kitt continued.

"None whatsoever."

"That's a first."

"What?"

"You don't have anything to say."

Melody snorted in response. She was beginning to worry about Mike. They'd all slowed down considerably, and she couldn't see them behind Karr's plume of smoke. She'd see glimpses of one of the cars now and then, reassuring her, but she couldn't help it. Sure, he was on one of the safest cars in the world and they were only going 40 miles an hour. So what? He was her brother, and he was Mike Knight; that fact alone gave her reason to worry.

Suddenly Karr lurched in front of them and the cable went slack. Karr stopped reversing and hit Kitt's bumper, sending Melody forward in her seat. The restraint system stopped her before she had a chance to get personal with the steering wheel, and she grabbed the door and groaned, closing her eyes tight as her stomach reeled, "I'm sick of this!"

She heard Kitt laugh, which was more like muffled laughter combined with static, "Sick of what?"

"Your driving!"


	9. A Criminal Mind

**AN:** Not much… thanks for reviews, thanks to those who put my story on alert… stuff like that. :)

**Chapter Eight:** A Criminal Mind

Kitt hit the accelerator and resumed his work hauling Karr, trying to think of a way out of this. He didn't have much luck in that department, and his passenger was no help. He couldn't unhook the grappling hook without assistance or unless they stopped, which could result in Karr towing _him._

Now that would be embarrassing.

Kitt was a bit concerned by Karr's sudden cooperation. Without the smoke in their view, the two muscle cars behind him were revealed. Kitt had known they were there, though he couldn't see them in the conventional way. Mike had managed to elude the other Camaro –Trenton was his name- though the peace was short lived. While the Chevy made his way back to the action, Mike contacted her via Kitt.

There was a chime, then a "Hey, Melody." Her brother sounded annoyed. Melody decided she would be too, if she were dealing with the ever determined Camaros.

"What's up?"

"We're taking Karr back to the SSC."

"Sort of what I assumed."

He gave her a look.

"I meant okay. How do you plan on that?" She noticed Kitt's speedometer climbing, and the cable fixing Kitt and Karr together was growing slack. Karr was gaining speed faster than Kitt, however gradually. They were back up to 65mph when Mike replied.

"We can't take him back through town. There's too many people, and it'll be worse the second time with you two stuck like that."

"Okay…"

"There's an exit coming up. Try to get him on there, and we'll get him to one of the back roads. Since the EMP won't work, we'll just have to stop him the old fashioned way."

"Brute force? Isn't that what we're doing?"

"I'm holding back. I don't want to stop him on the highway, where he can get a running start."

Melody had to agree. Though hadn't seen many cars for a while, she suspected Detroit's spot in the middle of the highway wouldn't go unnoticed for long. There were scattered cars here and there, and she was surprised at the fact that there were no police after them yet.

"Alright. Got that, Kitt?"

"Yes. Where to after that?"

"Take a right on the highway. There's a dirt road on the fourth right; just go there. We'll figure the rest out later."

Melody nodded her agreement, and Trenton returned. He rammed KITT from behind, who in turn struck Karr. The cable dragged on the pavement as it went completely slack and Karr's bumper made contact with Kitt's. Melody, though she was inside the car, could feel the tension in the air as the Trans Ams touched, scanners mere inches apart. There was silence for a moment while they braced themselves for whatever was to happen next, for now it was inevitable; almost like their contact had sparked a new determination in each of them. Karr was the first to break the awkward, unintentional connection as he swerved to his right, pulling Kitt along with him. They slowed, Karr taking on his twin's full weight before Kitt could get the car in gear.

Melody resumed her vice-like grip on the door as the car slid and was violently thrown up against Karr's side. Kitt let out the grappling hook a few feet and swerved away from Karr. Kitt discovered Karr's engine was finally beginning to overheat with his efforts, and he notified Melody of the news. She simply smirked in response, glancing at Karr.

"We've got him, Kitt."

"I certainly hope so."

She made a surprised noise as Karr slammed into Kitt. In the mirrors she saw KITT finally take out the Camaro with a well-placed shove into the ditch. It rolled along the ground for about a hundred yards or so before coming to a rest in a cloud of dust. It landed on its wheels, but wasn't giving chase. It wasn't moving at all, in fact. Melody thought it looked lifeless, as much as a car could. She wouldn't admit it, but a small part of her hoped it was still alive; still functional. Though he may have attempted to hurt them, even kill them just to help a criminal escape, she hoped the AI was okay, for the most part. He reminded her too much of the Trans Am she loved for her to be satisfied with his... well, his potential demise. Suddenly she wondered if she'd be able to handle seeing Karr dismantled. She hadn't thought much about what would happen to Karr if they caught him; just that they _had_ to.

What would it be like? Would he feel pain? Would he feel anything? She knew Kitt and Karr could feel. Through millions of sensors and multiple programs and things she couldn't pronounce, they could feel physical sensations such as pain, a breeze, a touch, and so on. She had learned through her mother that if Kitt was, say, in a car crash, it _would_ be quite an agonizing experience. But before any sensations are 'felt', they're sent through an individual processor that measures the intensity, before Kitt would ever feel it. The processors will catch anything deemed too 'great' and stop the effect before it reaches _Kitt_. But this was only with the outer shell, dash, and CPU; what would happen if Karr was taken apart, piece by piece? What would they even do to him if they caught him? Interrogation? She imagined Karr secured in the gimble, being threatened with various instruments and taunted by Katie and Lisa.

"Ow!" she yelled, reality violently ripping her from her thoughts. She pushed herself away from Kitt's door, rubbing her arm and the future bruise it would display. She glared at Karr through the passenger window and noticed the steam that had suddenly appeared between them. She was impressed with how long Karr had held out, but in the end the radiator had its way and green coolant was splattered onto the pavement behind them. Mike made his way toward them and hung close behind Karr, ready to push when the time came, any second now.

"No!" Karr shouted beside them, absolutely infuriated at the lack of options. It was either turn the car off and have a chance at escape, however slim it may be, later, or blow his engine and have no chance at all. The decision was obvious. He held off a second longer before he turned the car off, steam still seeping through the cracks of his hood.

They slowed to 60, Kitt using Karr's momentum to help guide him to the exit, though it wasn't necessary. Karr wasn't letting Kitt touch him. When they took a right onto the highway, Karr controlled himself with all the dignity he could give. It wasn't much. It was mostly enmity and the fact that he was completely helpless that kept him in a straight line. He was silent the whole way.

.::.::.::.::.

Karr seethed wordlessly as he was hauled along the road, his destination unknown, steam still seeping out from under his hood. He scanned the area; there was nothing of obvious importance out here. Kitt was in the wrong lane, and his driver, Melody, was receiving less than happy gestures from drivers stopped in the ditches. She simply smiled and waved. A quarter mile down the road KITT stopped pushing him from behind, and Kitt began turning onto a wide, winding dirt road. Karr moved away before Kitt could touch him. There was nothing he could do but follow. _Nothing,_ he thought, _but make it as difficult as possible._

He applied the parking brake once all four tires hit the gravel.

Kitt jerked to a stop and Karr was rear-ended. Kitt revved his engine and pulled, making easy progress down the road. Karr continued to search franticly for a means of escape, but he drew a blank. He was beginning to panic. Could a computer become hysterical?

He had no options. He was immobile. His previous accomplices were gone. And to make matters worse, the green residue that had spattered all over various components of his engine was dripping onto the ground, mocking him.

His tires dug into the ground as he was pushed and pulled down the road far enough to be hidden from traffic on the highway. They came to a rest, and Karr waited. He could see the girl speaking with Kitt next to him, but he couldn't read her lips from this point of view. He couldn't see her expression. Behind him Mike was staring, clearly lost in thought. He turned his attention to the grappling hook lazily hanging from his chassis. He didn't have a laser to cut the cable with. Even if he did, he didn't think it would work. It, like the rest of Kitt, was coated in the MBS.

The hook wasn't attached very well, but even though only one of the three prongs had a hold of him, it wasn't about to be jarred loose. He didn't like the thought of someone simply coming up and removing it. It made him nervous, being with the present company.

Suddenly KITT's door opened behind him. He watched Mike in silence as he walked around Kitt and opened his door, whispered something to Melody. He tried listening but didn't catch much over Kitt's engine and their hushed voices. He could try harder to hear their conversation, but he was distracted, trying to tune out his dominant program practically screaming at him. It was getting worse; the urge to flee had never been greater. When he had a chance at escape it was only a nagging reminder. Now he couldn't help but submit to the feeling of fear the program brought on, creeping through his circuits not unlike the coolant sliding down through his engine compartment.

He saw Melody step out of Kitt, and Karr was a bit surprised at what he saw. She was fairly attractive for a human. Nothing to gawk at, but certainly pretty. She glanced warily in his direction before shaking her head at her brother. Karr heard him tell her "Just drop it for now," and found himself wishing he'd paid closer attention instead of letting paranoia grip his processors. They were talking about him, but Mike seemed almost angry with his sister. _What did she say about me?_

Melody ended their conversation by slamming Kitt's door and standing in front of his bumper, arms crossed, examining Karr from a distance. She was afraid, but she wouldn't show it. She actually looked more irritated than anything. Mike rolled his eyes at the teen and laid his arms on Kitt's hood, also taking in the sight of the two-toned Trans Am.

After a moment of silence, Karr asked no one in particular, "What do you want with me?"

Mike blinked and replied before Melody had the chance, "Answers."

"Is that all?"

He shrugged. Melody looked back at him and gave him a knowing look, and Karr assumed it was about their conversation. He needed to know what she said.

"You must have more use for me than that," he continued smoothly when Mike didn't give a real answer. Kitt's scanner filled the silence following, and Karr mentally frowned. He thought he was doing well in sounding calm, even mildly succeeding in calming himself down, but Kitt knew. Both of them knew of the chaotic wreck his CPU had become in the last ten minutes, and it was only getting worse, like a virus gone unchecked. Except this one had an easy solution.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll think of something." Mike was walking back to KITT. He told him to call Sarah, tell her to 'expect company.'

This time Karr couldn't fight the fear his primary function induced at the words, the anger the whole situation brought on. Just a simple sentence, coupled with the fact that he was immobile and helpless, was enough to push him closer to what must be insanity. _I thought hell was warmer than this._

Karr turned his attention to the girl, still standing in front of Kitt, still staring him down. He never found a young human anywhere near intimidating, but she beginning to push the record holders out of their place.

"What are you doing?" he asked her in a tone sure to make her heart rate spike.

It did.

Nevertheless, she accepted his challenge and smiled, "Trying to picture you in the gimble."

His scanner slowed, hardly enough to be noticeable, "The what?" he asked, sounding as nonchalant as before.

"You'll see," she said almost solemnly. With that she turned to watch KITT do his thing and transform back into the F450, letting Karr fret over the whatever 'the gimble' was. He turned around behind Karr, who promptly rolled away as far as he could. KITT stopped, waiting for him to finish his futile attempt at evasion, when Karr started his engine. He knew for a fact he wasn't going anywhere, but there was nothing left to do.

Melody shouted for her brother before scooting around to Kitt's left, shielding herself with the Trans Am.

"Karr, what do you think you're doing?" Kitt asked as he reeled in the slack line from the grappling hook.

Instead of acknowledging his question, mainly because he couldn't think of an answer, Karr gunned the engine and flung himself through the ditch. His ended up back on the road facing Kitt, who promptly reeled in the rest of the cable, hiding it from view as their bumpers touched. Karr searched for something –anything- he could do.

He salvaged a few more seconds out of the silence that followed his stunt, waited until the dust he'd kicked up had settled. He procrastinated further watching the humans calm down, and reconsidered as KITT lined up with is rear bumper. He listened in seething anger as the powerful growl of his engine turned to one of warning as the temperature increased. When he'd had enough brooding and KITT had a firm hold of his axel, he dialed her number, wondering if she was still watching him.

"Congratulations," Wren answered on the first ring, "You've officially ruined my day."

"My pleasure."

"Karr, I can't believe this." She sighed on the other end. Mike hooked him up and KITT started lifting Karr's rear end into the air, but he made no attempt to move. The engine was still running and steam started making its way out available cracks. Karr's fear returned as great as before, though this time it was hollow, somehow distant, though he still felt it and all its sick glory in every part of his being. Anger came with it, however it was much more impulsive than the loitering sensation of fear.

"Why did you send them?" he asked as the car bounced on its suspension when KITT was finished. Mike and Melody were talking in KITT's cabin, and there was no way to listen in, "We only got a few miles before they were… neutralized."

"I sent them," she explained, aggravated, "because I had no choice. If you hadn't blown your radiator to hell with that turbo boost, they never would've been necessary."

"How did you know about my radiator?"

"I'm receiving constant updates on the car. Like right now, I know your engine's overheating. Again." Wren paused, "You're lucky I need you, Karr," she snarled, revealing her lies with a few simple words, "You're damn lucky."

He understood immediately. He knew it from the beginning, but he'd held on to the shred of hope she gave him. She promised freedom and, like a fool, he trusted her with that. He went along with it, her plan to steal Sarah Graiman's inheritance, hoping that the third time was the charm. And she was going to kill him anyway, even if she got away with it, because she has Detroit and Trenton now. They wouldn't refuse her anything. They wouldn't talk back and argue like he does. He didn't feel too bad about it; he hadn't gotten his hopes too high, but he still had them. He stopped thinking about it, knowing now that whatever the choice he made, his odds at survival didn't look good. Instead, he asked about something he'd been subconsciously mulling over for the past 45 minutes, "Why haven't you shut me down yet?"

She sighed, once again sounding frustrated, "You're out of range. The whole time you were skirting the edge of the signal's area."

"Even at the hangar?"

She sounded confused, "You were barely within range, yes. We had to wait until we lost your homing signal when you entered the compound, and when we did I had hardly enough time to reactivate you." She stopped, "Why?"

"I was just wondering."

"Huh."

"What are we going to do now?"

"Since Trenton and Detroit can't help you, you're on your own. Don't worry," she added sarcastically, "I'm sure you'll think of something."

With that she hung up and Karr sighed, sick of it all. Sick of being hunted, used, and betrayed. Were all humans like this?

Melody got out of KITT and walked back to the other, her eyes on Karr the whole time. She stopped at Kitt's right tire and turned back, frowning. Karr examined himself, wondering what she was looking at, when he remembered that he was still attached to Kitt. A watch on her wrist beeped, and he realized she was wearing a comm. link. Melody ignored it and hesitantly kneeled down in between Kitt and Karr.

Karr waited in silence as she detached the hook stood before he spoke, "Are you taking me back to the hangar?"

Melody stopped, turned, "Yeah."

He checked a map on his monitor and marked FLAG's apparent new headquarters, "Take the back roads."

She frowned in thought, "Why?"

"I can explain later."

She scrunched her eyebrows together before asking, "Hear that, KITT?"

"Yes, and I have informed Michael."

"Got it…"

As she got in, Karr cut his engine and allowed the fear over what could happen to him within the next hour wash over him, unable to hold the program back any longer. After all, this is what it was designed to do. He might as well accept it.


	10. Traitor

**AN:** This chapter's a bit of a filler… I'm just not feeling very creative lately. Strange.

**Chapter Nine:** Traitor

Karr watched the ground roll by the edge of his bumper, the gravel blurring into one solid shade of brown. He'd been giving KITT directions from where he hung for the past few miles, and was forced to explain before they'd comply. Once Mike understood, he followed Karr's orders, trying to skirt the invisible edge of Wren's device. Apparently they were succeeding, since the world had yet spontaneously turn black.

All too soon they were on the paved road leading to the back side of the Foundation. It was used more frequently when it lead to an airplane hangar, and since then it had lost the luxury of maintenance and was rattling everything from his dash to a few circuit boards.

He'd stopped berating himself about a mile back and now settled into a wary state of acceptance. He was wondering if his dominant program had simply overworked itself when they pulled onto the cement tarmac and around to the hangar doors. They stuck as close to the building as possible, not sure exactly where the signal ended, but knowing that they were at least 50 feet from where Karr had come online for the second time a few hours ago, where currently bits of broken chain and black marks dotted the pavement. Mike pulled him through the doors in a hurry, Karr's mirror nearly clipping the edge. Kitt followed much more gracefully, with Melody manning the controls.

Though he had a difficult time seeing around KITT he caught a glimpse of the tunnel, a dimly lit hole in the approaching wall. A split second later, when he realized they were going undergrounded, he checked his engine for a spontaneous mending of the radiator and, unsurprisingly, no such luck. He was beginning to think whatever would happen to him was better than this continuous onslaught of panic attacks.

As KITT pulled him down the long corridor, his mind was brought back to thoughts of the gimble, whatever it was. He supposed he'd find out soon enough, and the thought sent waves of what could be considered anxiety through his processors.

They stopped suddenly and waited for the metal doors to open, to reveal whatever fate awaited him. He forced the Trans Am to keep from visibly shaking as the doors parted behind him, but he couldn't alter the rapid pace of his scanner, feet from Kitt's own scarlet version. He noticed with some subtle satisfaction that Kitt's was in a similar, slightly slower state of excitement.

The doors parted with a hiss, and Karr tried starting the engine in a final rush of panic, which chugged once and refused to turn over. He was pulled into a large open room with tall ceilings and a catwalk high above the floor, leading to other parts of the 'building.' Kitt turned right and parked on Karr's left side as the other AI towed Karr through a large metal structure, stopping when Karr was directly under it. Below him glowed a blue light, and some steam hovered just above the metal mesh he was resting on. Several tables in the front of the room had been moved to make room for KITT when he came in, and the three humans, one male, two female and none he recognized, were making their way over.

As Karr was lowered to the ground he noticed two yellow robots on his right and left, the names Katie and Lisa on their sides. They turned toward him with interest and made multiple beeping sounds he couldn't understand. Mike and Melody came out to join the others when his rear wheels hit the ground and they all stood about, a brunette with a tablet making her way to his front. He watched her with caution as she tapped instructions into the device she was holding, something much more advanced than what he'd seen so far other than KITT. The only thing he recognized about it was the Apple logo on the back.

Out of all of them, the Asian girl was the first to speak, "So this is Karr," she said to no one in particular, nodding her head in approval, "Not bad. You should get a paint job like that, Kitt."

"I don't think so, Zoe," he replied a bit nervously, "I believe it would defeat Karr's intent."

Through his chaotic mess of thought processes, Karr had to agree. At least the production line model understood that much. He had the painting done to physically separate himself from Kitt and to prove a point, one of his final acts of defiance before he was blown to smithereens.

The man next to the girl, Zoe she was called, put his hands on his waist and studied both Karr and the metal contraption he was in. After searching his databanks for an appropriate word, Karr decided he appeared nerdy.

"Are you sure he'll fit, Sarah?" he asked the brunette in front of him, still messing with her device.

"I'm making adjustments right now…" she replied, still tapping away at the screen, "I don't see why not. He's smaller, but it should work. What do you think, Billy?" the nerdy one walked over and took a look at the screen, nodding in agreement.

Karr looked away from them and to the metal cage he was inside, which he decided must be the gimble. It didn't look too bad…

Melody and Zoe leaned on Kitt, who settled down on his shocks. In front of Karr KITT waited patiently for Sarah to finish, and when she did she plugged the object into one of a few short cords sticking out of the metal gimble. A few seconds later she unplugged it and stood back, telling Mike it was alright to unhook him.

Karr kept track of Mike's hands as he released the chains, and KITT transformed back into a Mustang and backed into a clear spot on Karr's right. Soft computer noises came from under the gimble and Karr felt a subtle pressure on the car's body. He tried rolling forward and felt resistance. He was silent as it spun to face the front of the room, not sure to say. Protest was useless, and he didn't feel like asking what they'd be doing. It jerked to a stop, and Mike clapped his hands together.

"Let's get this started, shall we?" He was looking at Karr expectantly, waiting for a reaction. Karr gave him no form of acknowledgement, but he was beginning to calm down some. The gimble wasn't so bad; Melody really must've been trying to picture him in it, is all. Either way, the stupid girl had nearly given him a heart attack, so to speak.

Billy and Zoe pulled the tables back to where they were now that Karr was secured, and he took a moment to examine the technology on them. It was all so… different. He had no idea what many of them did, and he had an idea no one was going to tell him. He recognized the standard desktops and laptops immediately, though they had changed immensely since 1985. Once again he was stunned at how much time had gone by. Hopefully his own questions would get answered within the next few hours.

Billy looked longingly at a recliner tucked away in the corner before settling down on a less luxurious rolling chair, the others finding their own places among the electronics at the front of the room, right in front of the cars.

Karr decided to break his silent streak and asked in a less than friendly tone, "Why don't you get on with it?"

"Alright, let's try something easy," Mike started, seeming a bit distressed. His heart rate increased slightly, so little it was hardly noticeable, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Mike?" Sarah asked. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Could you narrow it down?" Karr asked.

He looked Karr up and down once, "How about who are you working for?"

"Wren," he answered quickly, having no problem with ratting her out. He was beginning to calm down again after his last episode, with the program apparently seeing little threat at the moment. He kept his guard up, of course, not trusting any one of the beings in this room, and that included the yellow robots, Katie and Lisa. You could never be too safe.

"Wren…?"

"No surname."

"And I don't suppose you'll describe her for us."

Karr searched his memory, and in a split second he had a full body still shot from Rory and Tracy's house, face included, "What makes you think that?"

"I just don't see why you'd turn on whoever reactivated you, considering how difficult you were with us."

"You're wrong." Karr 'asked' KITT for permission to send a photo, assuming he could display it. KITT opened a channel and a moment later Wren was on the big screen. The humans turned to see it before Mike mumbled, "Looks familiar…"

"Zoe, can you run a search on her?" Sarah asked.

"No problemo."

Sarah nodded and asked, "Why are you doing this, Karr?"

"Doing what?"

She sat on the edge of the table directly in front of him, "Like Mike said, I didn't think you'd be this cooperative."

"I hope you realize that I in turn want my own answers, correct?"

"Yeah," Mike turned back, "when we're done. Now, what is this Wren doing? Why did she take you from the warehouse?"

Karr hesitated, debating between the truth and an embellished version. Karr was typically honest, never having much to lose from whatever he said, but now, he did. He hated Wren for what she'd done to him, what she was still doing, and what she planned to do when she was finished. But what were the consequences if he stayed here? Would he be deactivated again, for good? He had no idea. So he asked, "What are you going to do with me?"

"We'll answer your questions later."

"You will answer me now," his voice rose, gaining a slightly more computer generated quality.

"You think so?"

"Mike," Melody spoke up from her place by Kitt, "Don't fight with the car."

"If you want _your_ answers," Karr went on, "you have no choice."

Mike sighed. He looked to Sarah, who looked at Billy. Karr waited for someone to speak, but it never came.

"You have no plans?"

"We did," Mike pointedly made eye contact with his sister. She never blinked.

"What happened?"

"Now we don't."

"Be specific."

"Well, we _were_ going to send the car back to the warehouse, all the weapons disarmed, every system deactivated. We wanted to keep it in case something happened to one of these two," he pointed lazily to the cars on his left and right, who were idly standing by, "and we need a quick body."

He didn't like the thought of one of the others in his body. It ticked him off more than anything, "And what about me?"

"Deactivated and put in the vault, with all the prototype weapons, computers, programs..."

_Of course. Might as well stick the 'faulty' prototype with the rest,_ he thought, recalling the few hours after he was reactivated in '82, when he was speaking with Tony and Rev. He wondered what had happened to his drunken subordinates as he asked, "What made you change your mind?"

"Me," Melody announced.

"Why?" Maybe he never needed to hear Mike and Melody's disagreement after all.

She set her eyes to the floor, looking uncomfortable, "I don't think it's fair."

"Why do you care?"

"I guess I believe in the death penalty, for the most part," she started hesitantly, "But it's wrong -in several ways- to kill someone innocent of a crime."

Was she implying what he thought she was? "What am I innocent of?" he encouraged her.

"Everything."

Karr stopped. He stared at her, leaning so casually against Kitt's door, arms crossed and dead serious. She no longer looked like she felt awkward, but now almost defensive. The others looked at her questioningly, and she waited for their criticism.

"Melody, I can't believe you just said that," Kitt announced.

"Believe what you want, I guess," she shrugged.

"How can you say Karr's _innocent?_ You know what happened as well as Michael and I do, and you weren't even born when it happened!"

"Yeah. I know."

"Then why-"

"Because I know the facts. Karr is a criminal, yes."

"He's crazy."

She smiled, "Well that was rude."

"Melody, please be serious!"

"I am."

Karr sat in silence, watching the reactions around the room range from confusion to interest.

"Well, I thought it was pretty obvious, but… Karr never did anything wrong until the Foundation sent Michael and Kitt after him," she started slowly, "Tony and Rev reactivated him, and he did what they told him. He was a little too aggressive about it, but if I'm right, he didn't know any better. I mean, before he was ever shut down, he'd only been online a total of about a week, according to Devon."

"I suppose," Kitt thought aloud, "but I don't believe it was our fault, either," he defended.

"Well, no. You and Dad were following orders. But I think all Karr wanted was to stay away from the Foundation after what happened, but he went the wrong way about it. Think about it. If someone you trusted put any of you in a pitch black cell for almost a year with no one to talk to, no way to move, all for something you had no control over, you'd be a little pissed too. And if they tried to take you back there when you were finally free, wouldn't you want to get away? And now that I think about it, what if on top of all that, they replace you with someone whose supposed to be better? What if they gave him everything you were supposed to have?" she stopped and turned to face Kitt, "No offence, Kitt. I didn't mean-"

"It's alright, I know what you meant. And… I have to admit, I agree. I never thought about it like that," Karr wondered what it was in Kitt's voice when he spoke the last sentence. He was quiet, reserved, and almost… apologetic? Why?

She looked to the humans, "Does it sort of make sense now?"

"Yeah…" Zoe said, "Poor Karr."

"I don't need your pity," he growled. He didn't like how accurate Melody happened to be. He'd never thought about how naïve he had been, how much he still was, but he found out on his own he'd been foolish in selecting Tony and Rev. The pair were never sober enough to think straight, let alone keep up with something as intelligent and high-maintenance as Karr.

The room was silent now, aside from the soft whirring of the computers' fans on the table. Wren was still on the big screen, lighting up the room in a bright glow, silently demanding everyone's attention. Billy rotated in his rolling chair, head back, arms on the arm rests. Sarah bit her lip as she thought, about what Karr didn't know, though he had an idea. Mike messed with the edge of his jacket as he stared at the ground in front of the gimble. Zoe was observing her nails, having skipped out on a comeback for Karr's irritable retort. Melody was once again leaning on Kitt, arms crossed, one hand absentmindedly picking at her short nails, which were suffering from a decade of nail biting. He had no idea what the other AIs were doing, but he had a feeling they were in similar states of contemplation.

Suddenly, Mike asked, "So… now what?"

"You agree with me, right?" Melody raised an eyebrow, looking hopeful.

He sighed, "It makes sense."

"So…?"

"So it's up to Sarah what we do with him."

She looked to Sarah, smiling.

"You're being fair," she said, "which isn't surprising. And you're right."

Karr couldn't help but ask a bit impatiently, "What are you going to do?"

"You don't have to worry, I'll tell you that much. I'll let you know the rest when this is over and… when I think of it."

Wonderful.

"Michael," KITT announced, "I still have those files and the note you found at the cabin." Karr had almost forgotten he was there, he'd been so quiet.

"Files?" Sarah asked as Mike got them from KITT's seat. He handed them to her, the sticky note on the top. She flipped through them, confusion clearly written on her face, "I don't understand… these are classified documents. How'd they get these?" she looked to Karr, as if he knew the answer.

"How should I know?"

"Come on."

"Excuse me?" What did she mean, 'come on'? He couldn't go anywhere.

"I meant I know you know about these."

Oh. "What are they?"

"Files on FLAG, on us, on KITT's software…"

Karr was content to keep quiet, to let them figure it out on their own, but looking up at Wren's image made him think differently, "It most likely has something to do with Wren's informant working within the SSC."

Everyone looked at each other, appearing a bit disturbed.

"Who?" Mike asked

"I am unaware."

Billy straightened in his seat, "Well, everyone who worked here is gone now but us, so she must've gotten them a while ago. Unless one of us did it," he added the last part a bit dramatically.

Zoe never looked up, but said: "I blame Billy."

Billy snorted.

"It doesn't matter who did it," Mike sighed, "the point is she's got them. She knows about all of us, including KITT. The only ones she doesn't know absolutely everything about are the other Kitt and Melody."

"She knows about Kitt, too," Karr said.

"Of course," Kitt complained, "bring me into this…"

"I didn't tell her anything she didn't ask for," he growled.

"Michael," KITT interrupted, "may I remind you of the note you found at the cabin?"

"Got a hit?"

"It isn't an address, but GPS coordinates. The location is 26.6 miles from here."

"Great," he clapped his hands together, "let's roll."

Melody started pulling Kitt's door open, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, "Mike...?"

Her brother rolled his eyes, "Sure."

She laughed, "You know dad's going to kill you, right?"

"Yep."


	11. Conversing

**AN:** Thanks to a certain someone earlier today, I got the miraculous urge to write and rewrite. As a result, this chapter was born, and more will most definitely arrive in the near future. Hopefully. ;)

**Chapter Ten:** Conversing

Not five minutes after they left the SSC Kitt's communications link chimed, and he announced the dreaded yet inevitable: "Melody, it's your father."

She bit her lip. She really didn't want to talk to Michael, especially now.

"Melody…?" Kitt continued when she didn't answer. He seemed about as excited to speak to Michael as she was.

She gave Kitt the go-ahead and greeted Michael.

"Hey, where are you at?" he asked in a friendly yet slightly worried voice. School got out hours ago, and she usually called before she went anywhere.

"Uh, I'm not quite sure. Kitt's been driving. Look, I should probably tell you something…"

"What's wrong?" he asked, picking up on her nervousness even though –thankfully- he couldn't see her.

"Don't be mad, okay?"

"Melody, what's the problem? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just promise you won't get upset."

"I, uh… sure. I promise. Now tell me what's going on."

"You remember… Karr, right?"

There was a long pause, which Melody took advantage of. She explained what she knew, which wasn't much other than what she'd witnessed, and he was none too pleased.

"And how are you involved in all this?" she could hear him putting his coat on in the background.

"Well," she laughed nervously. Now came the hard part, "with my persuasive abilities and natural charm, I sort of talked Mike –and Kitt- into letting me… observe and assist. But don't blame either of them, Dad. I wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Melody… you are _so_ grounded. You know that, right?"

She sighed, "Yeah, I sort of figured."

"And Kitt-"

"I'm sorry, Michael," Kitt started, "I should've tried harder to get her home, but she is your daughter, after all."

"I was going to ask you," there was shuffling in the background, "where you are."

"Oh."

The shuffling stopped and Michael sighed, "Melody, where are your keys? I'm coming to meet you."

"What about the Escape?"

"Bonnie's at work. The keys, Melody?"

"They're on my nightstand."

"Got it. Where are you at?"

"About a mile and a half south of town, Michael. Should we wait?" Kitt asked.

"Yes, please. It might be a while.."

Melody snorted, "Thanks a lot." Michael hung up and Melody pushed herself back into the seat, relaxing.

"That wasn't half as bad as I assumed it would be," Kitt offered.

"I get a feeling it's the calm before the storm, my friend," she sighed, "This should be interesting."

/-/

Mike and Melody waited on the shoulder of the road a few miles from the location, and about ten minutes later, in the distance, Melody spotted a blue spec on the horizon and heading toward them at an alarming rate. They stepped out of their respective cars and waited, Mike appearing as laid back as ever, Melody fidgeting. She couldn't hold back a smile when she saw her father in the driver's seat of her little Grand Am, which skidded to a stop behind Kitt. He stepped out in an ungraceful manner and gently closed the door with two hands, sighing.

"Kitt… I missed you."

"I'd assume so, after seeing the way you scrambled out of that car."

He greeted KITT and Mike, seeming a bit uncomfortable. Both father and son usually held an air of awkwardness about them when they were near each other, though they were both entitled to it. A few months after Mike joined Knight Research he had made contact with his father, just to talk things over. They took gradual steps since then, and Melody was allowed to meet her mysterious half-brother soon after. Now it was a safe relationship, each evidently caring for the other the way father and son should, but not quite understanding how to go about the unique situation.

"So," Michael continued, "what exactly did you plan on doing?"

Mike got in KITT, "I'll let you know on the way."

Melody went to walk around Kitt when Michael grabbed her arm. Mike and KITT were leaving.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"What?" she started, surprised by his sudden change of mood and how tight he held her arm.

"When you went after Karr today!" he explained, keeping his voice low despite the fact that Kitt was their only spectator, "You know he could kill you!"

"Yeah, I-I know…"

"Then why did you do it, Mel?"

She didn't answer. Instead she looked down at her wrist, at the red skin that outlined his fingers. It didn't hurt; at least she assumed it didn't. To be honest she could hardly feel anything; Michael's sudden outburst had her feeling numb all over. Noticing what she was looking at, Michael released her, leaving a white imprint behind.

"Melody?" he continued, but he didn't sound angry anymore. He obviously felt bad, and he put his hands –gently- on her shoulders, making sure she faced him.

She sighed, smiling slightly, "Because I want you to know I'm not totally incapable."

"What?"

"I want to work at the SSC," she explained. She had known this fact since she first heard about it, when she was fifteen. She wanted it so bad, even if all she did was clean up after Mike she'd be happy. But the field, she'd decided, would be much more her style, "and since I knew you probably wouldn't want me to, I thought this would be a good chance to prove to you that I can handle it."

"Well you're right about one thing. I wouldn't want you working there. I can't… no."

"That's exactly why I had to do this. I knew you wouldn't want me to be 'in danger.'"

He ran a hand through his curly hair, sighing as he did so. He turned and mumbled something about never winning, to seemingly no one in particular.

"You know, Michael, I think she gets it from one of her parents," Kitt said, making an attempt at easing the tension.

"You're right. Bonnie always wins, too."

"You know that's not what I meant."

Michael turned on his heel and looked Melody once over. She smiled cautiously, awaiting the verdict.

_Come on, Michael, say it! _She thought. _It's only five words! Get in the car, Mel!_

Instead of miraculously obeying her thoughts, he said: "Get in your car, Mel."

_Wait… what? No! Wrong word!_ "_My_ car?"

"Yeah. Get in your car and go back to the SSC."

"But-"

"Melody. Please."

Normally there would be some sort of compromise here, but there was something about the way he said it that made Melody stand down. He didn't want her getting hurt. _Or in the way,_ she thought absently. And yet he was going _with_ his son into a potentially dangerous situation. She couldn't help but be a little angry at that fact. Yes, Mike was a skilled fighter. Yes, Mike knew exactly what he was doing. And yes, Mike had done worse things before. But that didn't make her feel any better about being told she couldn't come and at least _observe._

She crossed her arms, taking back her previous decision to let this slide. She was pretty surprised with herself, since she wasn't usually one to talk back. But this was something she cared about, and though she knew someday she _would_ follow in her father's footsteps (however off course she may be at the moment,) she desperately wanted her parents' approval. Because of this and her barely suppressed anger at the situation, she refused.

"Melody, I said go back to the SSC."

She crossed her arms and stood her ground.

"How many times do I have to say no?" he was raising his voice again. Melody hated nothing more than being yelled at, and she found her newfound streak of rebellion fading into oblivion.

_Damnit, why am I such a pushover? _

Mike and KITT were long gone, and time was wasting. If Wren had any more to throw at them they'd need Kitt there soon for backup, whether Michael was with him or not. Which must've been going through Kitt's mind when he said: "I don't mean to interrupt, but if you haven't noticed already, Mike didn't wait for us."

"Got it, Kitt." Michael replied over his shoulder. "Melody. SSC. Now, please."

"_Tell me_ why I can't go, Dad. Just tell me why and I'll leave." She was feeling pretty defeated right about now, having come to terms with the fact that she was getting in the Grand Am and not Kitt.

Michael hesitated before saying, "Honestly Mel, you're impossible. I don't want you going because I don't want something to happen to you."

She rolled her eyes, "_And?_ There's got to be an 'and' in there somewhere, because you know for a fact Kitt would never let that happen. He didn't this morning."

"There is no 'and'. There's also no 'if's or 'but's, so you need get _yours_ back to the SSC. And that's an order."

She snorted and stalked back to her Grand Am without another word. Pointedly ignoring him she threw it in reverse and left him in an already diminishing cloud of kicked up dirt, silently hoping she hadn't hit Kitt with any rocks.

/-/

Two and a half hours later, Melody found herself lying on her back on the brown leather couch back at FLAG. She'd been there roughly two hours, and though her left leg had gone almost totally numb she hadn't moved. The couch was positioned at an odd angle next to the stairs to make room for the cars, whenever they arrived again. She had a good view of Karr from her post, silent and immobile in the gimble, as well as Billy, Zoe, and Sarah, all appearing very bored. They were absently watching a dark view of a rocky expanse of land on their monitors. This was KITT's view as he, Mike, Michael, and the other Kitt staked out what they assumed to be Wren's hideout. Apparently Karr had confirmed it as the general location he was instructed to go to earlier.

They'd been there waiting nearly since Melody left Michael in a rush, and nothing had happened in that time. There was no building in sight, but a large door was cut into a rocky hill and perfectly disguised from any casual glances from the small, winding road nearby, where the supercars were waiting in a small expanse of trees.

She was listening for any news from the stakeout, but so far there had been nothing of interest, so she continued to twist a broken thread on her shirt. She was disappointed in the fact that her mp3 player (and everything else in her backpack,) was still in Kitt's passenger seat, leaving her with no source of entertainment.

She did, however, find one thing to do, and that was listen to Billy and Zoe's pointless bickering, then try to guess what Sarah's reaction would be. Eventually, when the bantering had died off and the monotonous theme for the evening had set in, the only thing she could think of to do was attempt to recite the alphabet backwards- a feat she had never been able to successfully accomplish. She made it up to 'O' when Sarah stood and said she was taking a break. She was bombarded by requests to bring back pop and snacks, and asked Melody to stay and man the fort while they went to the kitchen. She agreed as long as Sarah brought her back several cans of root beer.

The three of them left the room and Melody stood, stretched, and tried not to stare at Karr as she did so. As casually as one could with a tingling leg, she limped over and sat in Zoe's chair. She watched the tan and grey image on the monitor for a while, but had the strangest feeling that Karr was watching her. Funny how people can sense things like that.

"Why are you here?"

Melody jumped. Swiveling around to face the Trans Am, she asked awkwardly, "Um… what?"

"Why aren't you with them? I thought that's where you were heading." he asked again. He sounded amused.

"My dad didn't want me there. He's probably afraid I'll do something stupid. Which could never happen, because I wouldn't even be the one driving and…" she drifted off mid rant, remembering who she was talking to. "Forget it." She turned back toward the monitor and bit her lip, wondering if she should regret her conversation with Michael. She didn't find a reason to.

"Why did you talk them out of putting me in storage?" He continued, changing the subject. He seemed pretty determined on making conversation, or at least trying to figure things out. "From what I know, you would gain little from my presence."

Rotating around to face him again, she said, "I didn't do it for myself. I did it because while you _did_ almost kill my parents –several times, for the record- it's… not really your fault, if you think about it."

"Why _did_ you think about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"It appears as if out of all the humans here, you're the only one to have considered my actions to be reasonable. Why do you care more than they do?"

She leaned back in the chair, trying to pull off a calm and clever attitude. It didn't feel like it was working., "Don't flatter yourself, Karr. If you'd managed to hurt anyone from FLAG back then, I probably wouldn't be as understanding. Hell, I might not even be here thanks to you."

"You didn't answer my question."

She sighed, "I thought about it because I think there's more to you than the psycho car I've heard about. And I want to know what it is."

Thankfully, before Karr could answer, she heard the crackling of a Doritos bag from down the hall. When everyone entered the room she greeted Sarah a bit too happily and managed to steal the blue bag before returning to the rolling chair.

"What's got _you_ so happy all of the sudden?" Sarah asked, dropping two cans of root beer into her lap.

She crunched a chip and shrugged. She really wasn't sure why she felt better after talking to Karr, but assumed it was her venting. Venting always helped.

"Hey, anyone there?" Mike asked suddenly from behind Melody. She panicked a bit when she remembered them, fearing they heard her conversation with Karr. She was relieved when Sarah pushed a few keys before speaking, reactivating the mic.

When she looked at it, the monitor was no longer the same view of a dark, rocky hillside; now Mike's face replaced it, and she couldn't say he looked much better than the cliffs in his current state. Just looking at him made _her_ feel tired.

"Yeah Mike," Sarah answered, setting her things down, "what is it?"

"We're coming back to FLAG."

"What? Mike, it's only been…" she pulled Zoe's arm up to check her watch, "three and a half hours."

"Yeah, well I haven't seen any sign of a pissed off Camaro since we got here. Not even a single henchman."

"KITT?"

"I believe it's safe to return. As Mike said, there has been no activity, and it doesn't appear as if there will be while we're here. Since both Camaros were no longer on the highway when we passed earlier, it is likely that she is making repairs, and won't be bothered by our presence until they are complete."

"Yeah" Mike nodded, "what he said."

Billy huffed, "So now when you take 'em on they'll be just like KITT. Terrific."

"Wait, what?" Michael appeared alongside Mike on the monitor, each in their separate cars. Kitt must have patched him through. He was about to speak again, but his gaze flickered past the small crowd to the Trans Am behind them. They all turned to see what he was looking at, and four pairs of eyes plus Mike's were suddenly focused on Karr. His scanner picked up at the attention.

"Hello, Knight." He said with mock-happiness, "It certainly has been a while."

"Yeah. It could've waited a while longer, too."

There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Sarah thankfully interrupted, "Apparently this Wren got ahold of some restricted files of ours. She had, and probably still _has_ information on you and Bonnie, your Kitt, our KITT, Mike, Billy, Zoe, and myself."

"Well I feel left out," Melody frowned.

Billy laughed, "I don't think she has much to be afraid of with you."

She reached over and punched his arm, "As if."

"KITT's probably right about the cars," Sarah continued, "so you might as well come back. No use wasting our time out there when there's nothing to look for... you're sure you can't penetrate those doors?"

"We probably could, Sarah, but without knowing what's waiting for us on the other side, I wouldn't take any chances." Kitt said.

Sarah sighed, "Right. See you soon."


	12. Different

**AN:** Yep. Procrastination. It's a killer.

**Chapter Eleven:** Different

The surveillance team arrived not long after they were allowed to leave, and after Melody finished parking her car in the hangar, she hitched a ride with them back to the KITT Cave. She chose to ride with Michael and Kitt, even though Mike had offered first. She felt bad for leaving her dad like she did and, frankly, she was a bit embarrassed with how she reacted. After all, she was seventeen, not seven.

"Thanks." She'd said quietly after getting in the car.

"Mmhmm."

"…you're still mad."

Michael rolled his eyes dramatically, in a "No, _really_?" sort of way. Melody sighed loudly.

"Bonnie's here, right?" he asked after a bit of silence.

"Yeah, she's been here a while. And don't worry, she gave me the whole 'How could you be so irresponsible?' speech for you, too." She explained what had happened and frowned as she recalled the memory of her mom taking her into one of the pods, trying to act like she wasn't about to disown her daughter as she cast side glances at Karr. When she'd first walked through the tunnel Melody thought Bonnie was going to start a scene then and there, but she must have forgotten when she found that it wasn't Kitt in the gimble.

"Bonnie Barstow." Karr had said in what could've almost been surprise. Almost. He was so nonchalant whenever he spoke it was hard to tell. "I should've known I'd see you again, too."

Bonnie had stood there, speechless, as she stared from Karr to everyone else and back. After a moment she seemed to find her voice, and the first thing she did with it was order Melody into a room where they could "speak in private". Too bad Melody was sure everyone in the room below had heard every word they said.

That was an hour ago. Since then Bonnie had calmed and even taken notice of some shred of rational thinking in Melody's actions. She still refused, though, to come within ten feet of Karr, not to mention speak to him. When Melody told Michael about this, he explained to her that Bonnie had good reason to be afraid of the AI.

"Don't expect me to hold any extensive conversations with him either." he added as they pulled up behind KITT, who was making his way through the doors and around the left side of the gimble. Melody noticed her father visibly tense as they parked on the other side. She tried imagining how he felt, meeting one of his and Kitt's greatest enemies again when they'd thought for a second time he was finally dead and gone. Since there wasn't much she could compare it to in her own life, so she didn't think her interpretation quite cut it.

Karr was surprisingly silent as Michael tentatively picked his way around him toward the front of the room, where everyone stood in a loose group. Melody found a metal table in front of Kitt, void of anything but a few more computers. Everyone began discussing the day's events as she sat on its surface and listened. Michael and Bonnie had been filled in earlier in the day, each demanding every detail of their daughter's involvement and exactly how Karr managed to… well, survive. Again. Luckily for Melody, Bonnie was a bit more accepting of her actions than Michael had been from the start, and no one else found it of much importance in comparison to the case at hand. Speaking of which…

"What do we do now?" she asked from her perch. "Wait her out?"

"Who is this 'we'?" Michael asked, though he too seemed to have gotten over her little escapade and was at least joking with her. Melody smiled in triumph. Did that mean she was on board, too? She didn't know.

Mike shook his head at her question, "Not an option."

"But weren't you just-"

"That was surveillance."

She frowned, somewhat confused. She swore they'd just waited outside this Wren's supposed hideout for several hours, doing nothing _but_ wait. In her book, that meant exactly what she'd said: waiting them out. She went along with Mike's logic. "Okay… so? What now?"

"Well, we know a bit about her hideout," Sarah said as she crossed her arms. She was standing directly in front of Karr, leaning against a table. She asked KITT to display an image he had of the doors to the building, and what at first glance seemed to be a simple rocky hillside appeared on the screen in front of them. Upon closer inspection, Melody could see a perfect square outline in its tan surface. "There's not supposed to be anything like it in the area, but it doesn't look new; there's no trace of excavation anywhere. They're made out of… what did you say, Kitt? Concrete?"

"Yes; three and a half feet of reinforced concrete to be exact. It and the rest of the building also contain significant amounts of lead. I couldn't pick up anything on my infrared scanner either, which would lead me to believe it's buried deep underground, not just inside that hill."

"This lead issue is driving me crazy." Michael complained. "Reminds me of-"

"Red Bluff?" Kitt interrupted.

"Yeah, you, too?"

"Yes. Hopefully this Wren doesn't own an eighteen-wheeler." Kitt muttered.

Billy scrunched his eyebrows together, "_What?_"

"Never mind," Michael waved him off, "Doesn't matter."

"Well, anyway," Sarah continued, sounding just as confused as Billy, "Like Kitt said, we know nothing about the layout, what's in it, and _who_ is in it. Basically all we know for sure is that it has one exit, which eliminates sneaking in."

Mike shrugged, "Can't we just blow the doors open and move in?"

"If we knew what was down there I'd be all for it."

"Ehem." Bonnie fake-coughed to get their attention. She was the furthest from where Melody sat, and had been listening intently to the conversation. Every now and then she'd cast a wary glance at Karr, but she didn't seem afraid; more like worried. Now everyone was focused on her, including the two-toned Trans Am, "Shouldn't we discuss this somewhere else?"

Sarah looked at Karr, "He's alright, Bonnie. KITT will let us know if he's transmitting anything."

Melody noticed the amber flash of Karr's scanner increase, then fall back into its normal rhythm. She hadn't lied to Karr earlier, when she said she wanted to know more about him, and these sudden moments of whatever it was that made him uneasy were only making her wonder more. What did Wren do to him that he thought was so terrible?

"I wouldn't speak to that woman if my existence depended on it." He said.

Melody doubted the truth in that statement.

Bonnie looked confused. She hesitated, shifting on her feet before asking, "Why?"

Karr, on the other hand, was quick to respond. He didn't speak normally; there was no calm, ever-present hint of arrogance in his voice. Now he actually seemed pretty ticked. "She had no use for me when she was finished, and was planning on destroying me after she made her _clones_." He growled. Melody actually winced. "Because I know this she believes I would be unwilling to assist her, that I would be useless and it could only cause her harm to keep me functioning. Which, for the most part, is true."

"But you wanted to help her, didn't you? In the beginning?" Kitt asked quietly.

"I was grateful. After _you_ destroyed me under that damned bridge, I didn't think I was going to survive. Of course I had no idea what had even happened. She brought me back online after I was put in storage, and I was more than willing to repay her until…" he stopped.

"Until…?" Mike picked up.

Karr was silent. Melody checked his scanner out of curiosity, but it was fine.

"Why don't you want to help her?" Sarah asked. Karr was still quiet, and Melody briefly wondered if something was wrong with him.

After a bit of silent awkwardness, everyone dropped the subject; it was obvious he'd say no more. Melody found it really weird though that he just stopped talking. He was pretty angry before, and now he's… what? Sulking? Talk about bi-polar.

"So… what were we doing about this hideout thing again?" Zoe asked.

Sarah bit her lip in thought and turned back to the screen with KITT's picture of the door. Since Melody saw her this afternoon through Kitt's monitor, Sarah seemed stuck in this constant state of thought. She had to admit that she couldn't seem to find anything they could do about it, either. They couldn't blow the doors open; for all they knew there could be nuclear weapons down there. They didn't know the layout of the thing, so even if they could get in they'd be at a disadvantage. She also assumed that since Wren could care less if they had Karr or not, she was confident, even with them knowing where she was. That or she was just cocky. How irritating.

"I don't know." Sarah sighed, "Any ideas?"

Everyone looked at everyone else expectantly, but they were all at a loss.

"Well, we might as well get some rest then. We can figure something out in the morning."

Melody checked the time on one of the computers and felt suddenly tired. It was 11:30. Maybe she'd been sitting on that couch longer than she thought…

/-/

Melody woke with a start. She sat up in the bed she was in and gave herself a head rush, but she didn't care. _Did that really happen yesterday?_ She didn't believe it; it wasn't something that _could_ ever happen. Everyone always told her they destroyed Karr twenty something years ago, that he was officially dead and gone. Kitt even had video records to prove it. If it weren't for her surroundings, she'd chalk it up to a dream. But, unless her room looked more like one of FLAG's pods than she thought, it was more than that. Granted she hadn't actually thought about the resemblance between these rooms before.

She stepped out of bed and stumbled toward the door in a blind rush and opened it slowly, welcomed by a cool rush of air. She looked down the hall before peering over the edge just enough to see Karr below in the gimble, with KITT at his side. She couldn't see Kitt but knew he'd be there too. Before someone saw her she ducked back in to the room and closed the door, sealing in the darkness. She leaned against it, her back to its cool metal surface, and smiled.

/-/

The previous night, Karr watched everyone leave the room but one person, who he came to recognize as Billy. He was cleaning up an area on the long desk, mumbling about someone making a mess of his stuff. He organized a bit of the area before heading toward the stairs with an armful of papers, and was digging through them as he went.

"Billy Morgan," Karr said.

Billy jumped and several envelopes fluttered to the ground. "Uh…" He looked around before deciding that no one else saw him and faced Karr, eyebrows raised in surprise and quite possibly apprehension. "Yeah?"

Karr watched with slight amusement. "What am I expected to do?"

He frowned, "Like… like right now?"

"Yes, right now." It was a genuine question. Karr really had no idea what he should do, pinned down in the gimble and unable to do anything extending outside his own computer. Everything in the building was tamper proof, at least for him, and going into recharge was not his first option, though he knew he had to sometime. He wanted to know what everyone was doing at any given moment, whether it was sleeping, eating, recharging, or coming at him with a welding torch. Maybe this awkward research technician could give him an idea, or at the very least serve as entertainment.

"I don't know, um… KITT?"

"Yes, Billy?"

"What do _you_ do when no one's around?"

KITT paused, apparently trying to think of something helpful, "I enjoy watching movies, or browsing the internet. Sometimes I read novels." He offered.

Karr stared at KITT with some interest. He would never catch himself doing such human activities.

Billy looked back at Karr and said "Well… there you go." He then hurried to the stairs, turned back and picked up the fallen papers, and continued to his room. Karr thought he was strange, but left it at that.

For the first time since he arrived here he was alone, or as close as he would get to it. He was still very much aware of Kitt and this upgraded version next to him, and they were too close for comfort. They were as silent as he was, each intently monitoring his systems. This was very annoying, but he couldn't do much about it; the gimble seemed to do more than hold him still. He was vulnerable here, and that worried him. Whatever Karr did to keep them out they easily bypassed, and if they could so could the humans, and who knows what they'd do.

Would Sarah keep her promise, or would Michael Knight get to him first? He never got to hear his daughter's speech, and even if he did, would he be convinced? What about Bonnie? She could take him apart in minutes without blinking an eye. He supposed Michael could as well, but while Bonnie would most likely use a screwdriver, Knight would probably use a large hammer and have at it. Could they open his hood while he was in the gimble? Pass through all his defensive systems and open it with a simple command into a computer? If they did, he was screwed.

He pushed the thought away; no need to get himself worked up again. He'd rather Kitt didn't see that.

He let his processor wander aimlessly, wondering what it was like today in 2010 compared to 1985, what had happened in the time he was gone -things like that- until he came back to his current situation. There was no avoiding it.

After an hour of this random thinking while avoiding the topic of his destruction, Kitt sighed beside him. It caught Karr's attention because an AI doesn't typically sigh unless it's completely intentional. He assumed Kitt was annoyed with having to wait for him to go into recharge and was letting him know it. The other KITT was already doing so; it seemed they were going to take shifts. Either that or Kitt didn't have much planned for tomorrow. What would happen tomorrow, anyway? He didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore, and it was beginning to drive him crazy. Could a computer become crazy?

He received a warning from his power packs. It was the third one he'd gotten tonight, which meant he was down to seven percent, and he still hadn't decided what to do. He let out his own mechanical sigh within the quite space of his cabin. It was inevitable anyway… maybe partial recharge would be enough for tomorrow. He pondered the events of tomorrow again as he began shutting down select systems. He'd leave his surveillance mode on, a couple of monitors and some short range scanners… that should be enough. It was all that could pass through the confines of the gimble anyway. His dominant program, the one that ordered him to protect himself at all costs, chimed in the back of his mind when he shut down his systems, but it wasn't as if he had any options.

The last thing he heard, much to his amusement, was Kitt mutter, "It's about time."

/-/

The next morning Karr found himself roused by one of the humans in the pods. He heard the door click open as his systems started up, and Melody Knight stepped onto the balcony. She looked fairly self-conscious, and made sure no one else was around before peering over the railing. Karr expected her to come down the stairs, but instead she crept back into her room. What was she doing? He flicked his scanner on and it gave its customary 'swooshing' sound, but it was useless here. He left it on anyway.

He couldn't hear anyone else in their pods, and he had no way of knowing if anyone else was awake. KITT was online beside him, busying himself with who knows what. Eventually Sarah Graiman entered the room in her pajamas and Kitt came online as well. They greeted each other and Sarah disappeared into another room, reappearing a few minutes later with a mug of coffee in hand. She sat Indian-style in a chair in front of the cars, not hiding the fact that she was staring at Karr while sipping her coffee. Karr felt like a cornered cat under her gaze. This went on for some time before she sat back and asked, "Karr, I don't suppose you'll let me look under the hood?"

He was taken aback. What could that have anything to do with catching Wren? He didn't know much more than what he'd already told them, so there was nothing to gain there. There was no weapon of his they could dispose of, and if she was thinking about taking a peek at his software to gain some insight on Wren's Chevys, why wouldn't she just find Kitt's blueprints? Or have Kitt _tell_ her? After all, Kitt was a basic photocopy of himself. Only a few major differences separated them from being identical. Whatever she was thinking, the answer would always be the same.

"Don't count on it."

She finished her coffee and stood up, "Suit yourself."

"Sarah," KITT asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'll have to fill you in later KITT." She motioned to Karr with a slight head nod. Karr caught it, but he really didn't care. He had other things on his mind.

_Ah, there you are._ He thought when that annoyance of a program made itself known once again. He searched for his defensive programs, assuming he'd need them more than ever, and found them disarmed. What the hell? When did this happen? He felt a bit unnerved as he tried restarting them and they remained useless. He should've been informed of their deactivation…. He tried again and again, and they turned on, they _said_ they were active, but they weren't working properly. Without them, anyone could gain access into his computer. _Why the hell are they off?_ He didn't authorize this! He never even knew they weren't working.

"What did you do?" he growled as Sarah stretched. She jumped. Karr continued looking for an answer within his own systems while she thought about the question.

"What do you mean?" KITT asked.

"Several of my systems are malfunctioning, and I know this… _thing_ is causing it!"

Another pod door opened, and this time Mike Knight was the one looking down over the railing. He squinted into the light and asked "What's with all the noise?" he looked around, "What time is it, anyway?"

Melody came back out onto the balcony, followed by Zoe. Sarah checked her watch, "It's 7:30, and Karr isn't happy with the accommodations."

"_Accommodations?"_ Karr scoffed. "This is a prison. I don't even have control over my own systems."

"What do you expect? You _are_ a criminal."

Karr was quiet. He had nothing more to say to her, or any of them for that matter. Forget his questions. He'd find a way out of this place and he'd get to Wren himself. Then he'd come after FLAG. He didn't know how, or when, but one thing was for sure; if he was going to do it at all, this time it would be different.


	13. Programming

**AN:** I give up on excuses, because now I'm just being lazy.

**Chapter Twelve:** Programming

Karr was, to say the least, a little freaked out at Sarah's remark, and finding out that he had no way to protect himself only made him feel worse. He started looking into the gimble while the humans talked, listening absently for anything important. He'd checked the gimble when he first arrived and couldn't find any way into it, but now that he knew _it_ had gotten through _his_ firewalls, maybe he could trace that back into its CPU. Maybe. Hopefully he could slip through unnoticed without it alerting anyone. If this didn't work, he had no idea what else to do… but he didn't think about that. He couldn't.

No one was paying such close attention to him now that everyone else was waking up and coming downstairs, so when he felt he was safe to investigate he went to it. KITT was only monitoring his communication systems since, frankly, Karr didn't pose much of a threat at the moment. The other Kitt seemed to be having nothing more to do with him for the time being. Karr didn't have many good things to say about his successor, but at least Kitt was smart enough to mind his own business.

"What's for breakfast?" Billy asked sleepily as he stretched. Karr heard his joints crack from where he stood on the stairs, and noticed his hair was disheveled.

Sarah didn't even look up from what she was scribbling in her notebook. "Whatever you make."

"Hm."

"Can you make me a sandwich?" Melody asked hopefully from one of the chairs. She was leaning in it lazily, and didn't seem inclined to get up even to change out of her nightwear like everyone else – instead she wore black basketball shorts and a tank top. Billy walked down and stood by the railing.

"Get in there and make it yourself, woman."

Zoe, lying on the couch, glared at him, while Melody smiled and leaned forward.

"What did you say to me?"

Billy walked toward the kitchen in defeat, "Yes ma'am."

"That's what I thought."

"Make that two!" Zoe yelled after him. There was no response. Zoe rolled her eyes, "If he knows what's good for him he'll make two."

Karr did his best to ignore them and continued his work on the gimble. He was annoyed with the fact that they could be happy and even play around while he was in the middle of the room, trapped with them, and in such a state of turmoil. Even so, during this time, he was surprised to have found a way into the gimble's CPU; he wasn't expecting it to be that easy. In a matter of seconds he was able to locate what was keeping his systems at bay, but it was protected. Strange though; he'd assume KITT would be able manipulate the gimble if needed, but it didn't appear so. Not unless he knew the password, too.

He set his decoder to work and continued to explore more of the gimble's functions until, several minutes later, he almost literally stumbled upon what he was looking for. He was sifting through everything so fast he hardly had time to think about what he was going _through_, and for a supercomputer that was saying something. But he found what he needed, and nothing else mattered. The main control system, also currently out of reach, would allow him to release himself. If he could somehow find a way to open the metal doors behind him through this contraption as well, he'd be set. Mostly. There was still the matter of his cracked and useless radiator, and the fact that he would need several hours to unlock everything, which meant that he was still defenseless until then. The thought was gnawing at his processor, and he couldn't help but conjure images of himself, his parts, scattered around and recycled, his microchips planted in children's toys and mobile phones…

It was a disturbing thought.

"Hey, Michael, Mel," Sarah suddenly gathered her notebook and motioned for them to follow her down the hall. She still never looked at anything but the paper, and was even making some more notes in it as she walked. The two in question hesitated, and followed somewhat reluctantly down the hall and around a corner where Karr could no longer see. He heard a door open and close before Zoe asked:

"What's that about?"

"I don't know." Mike replied. He looked down the hallway in interest.

Karr was even a bit curious about that notebook, but he didn't care quite enough for it to distract him too long.

Billy came back into the room carrying a bowl of cereal in one hand and two sandwiches in the other. He was focused intently on the bowl, the milk sloshing dangerously close to the edge.

"Here." He tossed the top sandwich in Zoe's general direction and set his cereal down to throw the other at Melody. He hardly had time to ask where she went before the door down the hall clicked open and Melody ran toward him, grabbed the sandwich, and jogged back without a word.

"You're welcome!" Billy yelled after her.

/-/

Melody walked back to the room, breakfast in hand, and was surprised when Sarah didn't look as annoyed with her as she assumed she'd be. She had finally closed the notebook and was leaning on the edge of a table, Michael standing across from her with his arms crossed. Why Sarah decided to bring them into the unused office space she had no idea, but she didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"I've been thinking. About Karr."

Michael looked skeptical, and Melody stopped eating mid-bite. If Sarah was going to say Karr was as good as scrap metal, Melody was going to be ticked. She still believed strongly in what she said, and it wasn't fair to Karr to just… to kill him, for something he really had no control over. Well, not _much_ control, anyway. None of what ever happened was really his own fault. The power their programming had over them was amazing. After all, Kitt could obviously make his own decisions, but whenever he was unsure about the danger involved for any human, he was severely restricted. Her father once told her of a case where he was suspended from FLAG to catch a guy… LaSalle, or something. Kitt refused to assist him when he found out they were to steal a canister of a deadly gas for LaSalle to use, even though Kitt knew he could trust Michael with _anything._ He couldn't help him go through with it because it went against his primary function. It had to work the same way with Karr, didn't it?

Sarah half smiled at their reaction. "I mean I've been thinking about how we could use him to catch this woman. She claims she doesn't need him now, but he's _here_, isn't he? He's in the center of enemy territory. Karr could send her everything she'd need to know about this place to get in, and everything about our computer systems so she can use either him or one of her AIs to access everything we have. Why waste time and risk another vehicle when she can just use Karr? Of course FLAG is fairly safe against the outside, but she knows that already. Even if you got through the firewall, which isn't likely, it would take a few hours to break the security code. It sounds simple, but it works." Sarah must've realized she was rambling and stopped herself.

Michael, though, was shaking his head long before she'd finished, "Whatever she can or can't do, Karr should _not_ be a part of any of this. He's near impossible to catch. We were lucky he happened to land wrong when he turbo boosted, or we probably wouldn't have him now!"

"And that's what I've been working on." She raised the red notebook, "I was up half the night trying to find a way to use him, and think I've almost got it. It still won't be done for a while, unless I do the bare minimum and get help from Billy."

"What is it?" Melody asked

Sarah held out the notebook and Melody took it. It looked like a bunch of coding, from the little she could recognize from past experience, but it was computer gibberish all the same. Michael, when she handed him the book, looked just as confused as she was.

"It's a copy of Karr's programming sequences." Sarah continued, "I found them along with other restricted files in FLAG's archives and printed them out last night. I've been tweaking things all night. I think if I can modify his old programming and introduce our own, he'll be more… willing. That is unless his grudge against FLAG, Kitt, and you, Michael, is too great. There's nothing we can do about his mindset unless we totally reprogram him, which is out of the question for now, at least."

Melody frowned, "Forever."

Sarah sighed and Michael rolled his eyes. Melody felt oddly like she was trying to save a feral pet no one else wanted around, but (much to Michael's dismay,) she'd found stubbornness and a need for justice common among Knights, even if their family tree wasn't exactly a large one.

"Well anyway," Michael said, "why are we the only ones you're telling about your little plan?"

Sarah looked a bit embarrassed, and was half focused on bending the wire on her notebook back into shape, "I don't usually ask for advice, and god knows I hate having to, but I think I need it this time. The only way to test out this programming change is to let Karr outside, at least out into the hangar, which shouldn't be too bad. I don't know how else we can get at Wren unless we have Karr on our side, and I want to catch her _now_, while she has those cars. They're powerful weapons in her hands. I'm asking you two specifically about this because Michael, you have personal experience with Karr. You and Kitt know him better than any of us. Melody at least _sounds_ like she might understand him, if she was right. I want to know what you think of it."

"Except, no offence Mel, but you don't know him. You think you do, but none of us can be sure unless he says so."

"She's grown up with Kitt, though. She's the only one on earth who's been around an AI their entire life. I know you've known Kitt longer than she has, but wouldn't it make sense for her to be a bit more sensitive to their… their emotions, I guess, and for her to put herself in their position?"

"Well, I don't know about _that_." Melody said, feeling very self-conscious all of the sudden. She really hadn't ever known a time without Kitt in her life, and couldn't imagine it any differently. Maybe that unique experience on its own really did make her more… understanding toward the AIs, but then again, maybe it didn't. Maybe she was totally wrong about Karr, and all the decisions he's ever made have been those selected by a sober mind.

Michael too seemed to be weighing the situation, but he looked frustrated. He was looking away from them, one hand on the back of his neck. If Sarah's new installation didn't work, Karr could get away. If it did and Sarah was right about Wren, then they'd have everything going for them. But then again, what if Karr was lying? It was confusing.

"Sarah, I wish I could help, but… I shouldn't make your decision for you." Michael said, trying to sound kind. He looked like he wanted to continue to force his point about Karr, but instead he said: "This is your shot here."

Sarah laughed humorlessly, "Shot in the dark."

Michael sighed heavily. "Hey, whatever you decide, Kitt and I will be at your disposal."

"Thank you, Michael. I don't think we could do this alone."

She shifted her gaze to the third occupant in the room, who felt very uncomfortable all of the sudden.

"Oh please don't lay this on me." Melody held her hands up. "I can't even decide what to eat at McDonald's. I wouldn't trust me with big decisions involving murderous cars."

"Didn't you just convince me that Karr isn't… right?" Sarah countered.

She put her hands down. "That's different."

"Well, that's alright anyway. I think… I've made my decision. Thanks again, Michael." Sarah stood and led them to the door. "We'd better get started."


	14. Goodnight Karr

**AN:** This was originally part of the last chapter, but it was a lot bigger than I'd intended…

**Chapter Thirteen:** Goodnight Karr

Ten minutes later, everyone was given a task and they set to work. Well, most everyone. Karr, of course, was kept in the dark about the whole reprogramming of his core systems thing. All he knew was that for some reason they were suddenly interested in repairing him. Of course he was going to know there was some ulterior motive, but said motive was need to know, and Karr _needed_ to be the last to find out. Until then, Billy and Sarah went to work finishing the programming, which was no easy task. They set up shop on the other side of the big table to conceal it and their faces from Karr, and they spoke only in whispers. Bonnie was asked to assist them, but she wanted nothing to do with sending Karr out on the road.

KITT and Zoe monitored Wren's hideout on the computer, mainly because Zoe wasn't quite as techy as Billy and Sarah and she didn't want to dig around under Karr's hood for the risk of damaging her newly polished nails. Kitt was responsible for keeping an eye on Karr, and Mike and Melody were given the task of repairing his radiator. Mike didn't totally agree with Sarah's plan, so he was mostly moral support, and Michael (much like Bonnie) would rather stand by. He wandered, mostly spoke to Kitt of yesterday's events and tried helping Zoe, but since watching a screen didn't require much assistance, he sat on Kitt's hood and tried to make sense of the whole ordeal. Bonnie stole one of the laptops and resided to the couch, but Melody wasn't sure what she took to doing.

The room became very quiet, aside from one of the computers providing some background music. It sounded like AC/DC, but she wasn't sure. She wasn't paying much attention.

"Now what?" she asked Mike from where they stood, facing Karr, not far from him. Karr's scanner tracked back and forth steadily.

Mike didn't answer, but instead he walked up to Karr and tugged on the hood. Of course, it didn't open. Karr's scanner 'swooshed' in what could very well be satisfaction.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, arrogant as ever.

He looked Karr once over. "You want that radiator of yours fixed?"

There was a pause, as Karr was taken aback. "Why?"

"Doesn't matter. Do you want it fixed or not?"

"It matters." They had his full attention, and though he'd vowed not to speak to them, he couldn't help himself. What were they doing now?

Mike sighed. Melody smiled.

"What did you expect, Mike? 'Sure, go ahead and poke around under there. Just try to avoid sabotaging me, 'kay?'"

"Are you finished?"

Melody smiled. "Kitt, manager assistance requested." She said, without breaking eye contact.

Immediately Karr closed everything he was doing with the gimble. Kitt scanned him on Melody's command and worked his way through the various functions until he found the hood release and its hydraulics. Nothing Karr tried could stop him, either. Most programs he would use to do so were disarmed, and Kitt had easy access. Karr was a bit shocked at his boldness though. While he was acting upon a command, as the lesser AI had always done, he was going about it in a very brisk and determined manner.

"Stop!" Karr shouted out loud. Internally, he threw every derogatory word in the dictionary at Kitt through their temporary link. If Kitt succeeded, they'd have access to Karr himself, his CPU, _everything._ He still didn't know what they were doing, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. Karr started to panic, and Kitt took notice. He wasn't very discreet with his noticing either, which Karr would have preferred. He actually stopped, scanned Karr once again, and checked out his current diagnostic report. Much to Karr's frustration, he was unable to prevent him from doing so.

This was getting sickening. He was never like this before… even the first time he was activated, or reactivated really, by Tony and Rev, these feelings weren't so… overpowering. And the second time, with John, it was almost nonexistent. That was probably why he didn't care if he died when he faced Kitt. Many components had been jarred loose in his fall from the cliff, leaving some smaller circuit boards disconnected completely or even broken, and one in particular contained the bane of his existence. They must've repaired it when they pieced him back together. Except now it was… amplified. Terrific.

Karr shoved it out of his mind the best he could and tried blocking Kitt, but he wasn't fast enough. His hood clicked open and Kitt raised it about a foot, but as Mike reached down to grab its edge Karr routed the majority of his power to the hood's hydraulics in anger and slammed it shut. Mike was lucky he still had his fingertips.

"Sorry," Kitt apologized to the human.

Mike in turn scowled at the black and grey Trans Am and held his hands on the edge of the hood, waiting for Kitt to reopen it. A few seconds later it clicked open again, but this time Mike jerked it up before Karr could snap it closed. Karr tried once again, but the hydraulics weren't strong enough to force it, and Mike held it open with one arm. He kept at it anyway. Kitt still lingered on the edge of their connection, and in his frustration, Karr growled.

"_Get out!"_ he shouted at him through their link. It was terminated by Kitt and only Mike was left to deal with, which was not going well. He checked his progress with the gimble and seemed to be far from freedom.

"Someone's got anger issues." Billy said quietly.

Karr started his engine. This time it roared to life and he put the Trans Am in reverse. If Billy thought he had anger issues before…

Sarah swore and ran over to the gimble, waiting first to see what Karr would do. Mike, meanwhile, was gaining progress. Melody had found a piece of rebar of decent length and was in the process of cramming it into his engine compartment to hold his hood open.

"There." She said. Karr tried removing the object but his hood would open no further to loosen it, so instead he and hit the accelerator. It was a strange feeling, like a giant magnet was holding him in place, but physically there was nothing holding him down. His tires barely made any noise as they turned on the slick surface, but it was useless. He knew it wouldn't work anyway; all he managed to do was leave the room a bit hazy. He felt so… helpless. He stopped, but left the Trans Am idling. He felt like giving up, but knew he couldn't let that happen. If he was going to be deactivated any time in the near future, he was going to fight his best in the useless battle.

Sarah, on the other hand, seemed reassured by his failure and entered the gimble near his right side, where his CPU was now in plain sight. She examined it, carefully moving her hand along its unseen edges for reasons unknown to Karr. It sent waves of revulsion through his systems, and as he attempted moving away from her touch he was hoping she'd electrocute herself on one of his available ports, but no such luck.

"Hey, uh, whatcha doing, Sarah?" Billy asked.

Zoe smiled, "Feeling up Karr."

Sarah glared at her and walked back to Billy. She turned him around and whispered in his ear.

"Well," Mike sat down, "he's all yours."

"Gee, thanks." Melody frowned. She didn't look exactly pleased with the situation either. Most of them looked uneasy.

"I don't like this." Bonnie said, closing the laptop she had. She was shaking her head.

Karr felt some satisfaction at that.

"It's fine, Mom. He can't do anything."

"I still don't like it."

Melody sighed and seemed to give up on the conversation before approaching Karr. He revved the engine, but she wasn't deterred. On the contrary she began investigating his radiator at once and seemed to be taking her task seriously, all business as they say, but he watched her closely. Actually, everyone was watching them now, their eyes skipping from Melody to himself. She didn't dare stick her arm in his engine compartment though, especially with the fan running and with what little was left of his coolant circulating through the system and becoming increasingly hot, still dripping from an unseen crack or even cracks. His diagnostic system didn't extend to the physical wellbeing of much that wasn't electronic and since he couldn't see it, he had no idea what kind of damage had been done. Either way, when they pieced him back together this final time they must not have considered the quality of his parts because this _should never_ have happened.

Melody stood up straight, still examining the general area, "I can't see anything from here. You need to turn the engine off." She looked expectant, but all Karr did in reply was rev the engine again, louder this time. Steam rolled up suddenly and Melody backed off for fear of being burned. It stank of antifreeze. He revved it again and more steam poured out of the radiator.

Defiance came with a price, he supposed.

Melody waved her arm, dispersing the cloud, "Dammit Karr, I'm trying to help you!"

_How do you expect me to believe that?_ He let the engine return to an idle and listened to it, trying to think. He wanted to believe her. He couldn't bring himself to admit it right now, but what he wanted most was for everything to be over. He wanted to live -of course he did- but he didn't want to go through the hassle of survival. This whole situation was killing him, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. He felt trapped within his own mind, the real enemy being much closer than these FLAG operatives could ever be. They didn't make it any better though. In reality they were seriously pissing him off.

He still didn't know how he'd stop them, but he, quite literally, couldn't give up.

"Kitt," Michael commanded, nodding at Karr, "anything you can do?"

"One moment," the pushover responded. Back to taking orders, it seemed.

Karr revved his engine again and the radiator stopped steaming. The motor designed to tackle temperatures beyond that of any normal car was finally overheating.

Suddenly Kitt was with him again, on the outskirts of Karr's awareness. He made quick work of his systems this time, paying Karr no attention as he located what was, more or less, the 'kill switch'.

"_No!"_ he panicked, scrambling to find something, anything, to stop his prototype, but there was nothing he could do. No way to defend himself. If there was one thing he truly despised more than Knight, more than Kitt… more than the Foundation for Law and Government, than Wren, than his god damned program… it was the silence. It was the floating feeling after being deactivated that wasn't even a feeling, more of a subtle awareness that there was nothing around him. No sight, no sounds, no knowledge of the passing of time, hell he didn't even know if he was alive or… not. Whatever it was he could be that is not alive.

His systems shut down quickly. His engine died first, then his scanner. All his cameras went offline and finally his hearing, with every microphone shut down. He was being forced into that dark void again, but for the first time he was not alone.

"Goodnight, Karr."

Then Kitt was gone.

_Silence._


	15. Hurt

**AN:** There's a bit of jumping around in this chapter, and I'll probably go back and fix it later, but I felt like I had to get something posted. This is what I had, so I apologize if it's a little confusing.

**Chapter Fourteen:** Hurt

He no longer had a body, but was reduced to a detached, emotionless shadow of his former self. He was a concept; a thought. A thought that could ponder questions of its own, only he had no memory to provide answers. Was that possible? No memory at all?

Who was he? He was the Knight Automated Roving Robot. Karr. The first in a bold new experiment of autonomous vehicles, designed by Knight Industries. At least he could remember that much…

Knight Industries. _What is that?_ The relatively small accumulation of data he had from his short life was tugging at his mind, screaming at him "I'm here, you idiot, try harder!" but he couldn't hear it. He didn't have the capacity _to_ think harder.

He was reduced to a fraction of his former glory. In this form, he was a clean slate. He knew his title and a simple explanation of what he was, but he couldn't define it. He could ask himself simple questions, but he couldn't give a response. He knew what time was, but could not record its passing.

Darkness. Silence. How long _had_ he been here? He didn't remember why he was there, or how long it had been since he wasn't. Had it only been minutes? Hours?

Could it be years?

_Where am I? I am the Knight Automated Roving Robot. K.A.R.R…_

_I am Karr._

Something happened then. If he were human he could compare it to being asleep and something woke him -not completely and not violently- but _something_ shifted within his mind. Now while still asleep he knew that he was in bed, in his home… but also knew that he was asleep, and that if he thought about it any longer, he would wake up. Did he want to wake up?

This awareness increased. Slowly his memory returned and his seemingly endless time in limbo was cut short. And what was the first thing that popped into his CPU?

_Kitt?_

"Kitt?" he asked out loud. He knew it was through his modulator and not to himself because he could _hear_ it. It was no longer a thought, and neither was he. He was amazed how pleased that fact alone could make him time and again.

"Erm, yes?" came the startled reply.

He knew that voice.

_Kitt. No…_

Everything came back to him, and his short euphoric relief of coming back online was extinguished.

Kitt deactivated him.

_What did they do to me?_

"Kitt!"

Two voices responded. The same as before gave an irritated "What?" while the other replied "Yes?" in a curious, mellow tenor. He'd forgotten about the Mustang.

His dash lit up and he ran a system diagnostic. At the same time he demanded to know what they did.

"I fixed your radiator, though you don't seem too grateful." Melody walked into the room at the sound of voices. She was wearing a pair of black shorts and a grey sleeveless top with no shoes. Everyone that filtered in after her was also dressed in sleep attire, the most curious of which was Zoe, who wore an outfit covered entirely in moose silhouettes. Sarah and Bonnie however were fully dressed for the day.

Speaking of, it was 10 a.m. He'd been deactivated for 21 hours.

"What else?" he demanded impatiently.

"Nothing." She frowned, "Jesus, calm down."

Slightly confused, he corrected her; "My name is Karr." He repeated the line with some irritation. Only a few minutes ago he was clinging to that very fact.

"Not what I meant… but the resemblance is pretty uncanny."

He still didn't understand, but gave up on it. Humans never made any sense.

"We didn't do anything." Sarah said. She seemed irritated, while Billy appeared a bit guilty. Everyone, he noticed, looked unhappy, if only slightly.

His diagnostic turned up no strange reports, but he did receive promising results from the gimble minutes after coming back online. It appeared that no one had yet noticed his hacking into the system. While he eagerly delved into his discovery, he started the engine again.

It hummed to life and seemed normal, for the most part. He could detect no accumulating puddles of radiator fluid, and after a minute or so of revving without rising temperature he decided it was good enough and killed it.

"I swear, there really isn't anything a little duct tape and J.B. Weld can't fix." Melody announced, proud of the Trans Am's results. "Temporarily, at least."

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" Mike asked out of the blue.

"Yeah, but until this whole thing is over, I'm skipping. But not to be clingy or anything. Mom didn't want me to go until you catch Wren. She's afraid she'll target Kitt, and that I'll be with him again when it happens."

Karr couldn't deny his delight. His efforts proved successful, and no one was the wiser. Clearly the mechanism hadn't been designed for such a determined occupant; only the Three Thousand was meant to use it, and he would never protest to it or Katie and Lisa's curious scans. Now, when could he put his plan into action? He wanted desperately to get it over with now, but he knew that would never work. He'd have to wait for at the very least _one_ of the other AIs to leave first. He'd have to –

A phone chimed then, identical to Kitt's. Karr listened to it in bewilderment, instantly losing all those exultant feelings. To his astonishment, it was his phone. And who could be calling, other than his narcissistic _savior?_

Michael, wearing the same slightly wrinkled ensemble as yesterday, stood before Karr with his arms crossed. He stared at the scanner with intensity.

"Feel like sharing?" he asked. Sarah too looked at Karr suspiciously. Karr answered the video phone.

/-/

"I don't care how long it takes, just do it!" Wren shouted at the tech, who hurried off toward a tower of computers while hiding behind her brown bangs and glasses. "I swear, if one more person gives me any more _'bad news',_ they'll be in worse shape than those damned cars!"

A man dressed in the white lab coat of a technician approached her, seemingly ignoring her threat.

"What is it?" she snapped. She had hired his man, Shane Meyer, to run the entire construction of the two computers. He was a good man -Wren had known him since high school- but he knew he could get away with giving her a hard time, and he took full advantage of it.

"We were wondering if you planning on regaining the Trans Am." he said smoothly.

"Who's 'we'?"

"Pretty much everyone. If we need to reprogram it, we should start soon."

Wren scowled at his boldness, "Karr isn't worth the hassle of reprograming, Shane. It provided a better reference for the CPUs than the few documents from the Two Thousand and Three Thousand, and now that they're complete," she pointed to the cars, "Karr is useless."

"It also helped you locate FLAG."

"A simple tracking device could've done that, but getting it on the Three Thousand would be impossible. Karr was the best bait available."

He looked at her skeptically, "I was under the impression you wanted to use it further."

"I _did_, before I knew how uncooperative it would become."

"It felt threatened."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well what's done is done, isn't it? They have it now and it's not coming back. It's still us against them, and Karr is out of the picture. They're not going to use it against us, so don't worry about it."

"Wren, what _are_ we going to do about them? You still want the money, don't you?"

"It's not just about the _money_," she insisted, "it's about Mike Traceur."

Shane sighed, looking to the ceiling, and Wren clenched her teeth. Shane whispered, "I'm sorry, Wren. I know you miss Justin, but revenge isn't going to bring him back-"

"What do you know about it?" she demanded, growling low. She noticed though that they were attracting some attention and kept her voice down and level, though her throat was closing tight, "Look, I don't care what you think. Leave if you don't like it, it doesn't matter to me and neither does the money. All that matters is getting rid of Mike. I just…" she couldn't breathe. Her eyes still stung at the thought of her brother, gone because of Traceur. If Shane couldn't understand now then he never would, so she just said: "I'm taking the cars out. Tonight."

Shane frowned disbelievingly, and the programmer in him returned as talk of business resumed. "You _can't._ I haven't even rebooted Trenton yet, I'm waiting on parts for the other-"

"Don't," she breathed, "Two cars are going to be here, and I expect those Camaros to be ready."

"What do you expect them to do?"

"What do you think?" she walked away, "They're not programmed to injure, Meyer. They shoot to kill."

She picked up her cell phone and walked into an office off the main room.

/-/

Once again KITT projected the video feed onto the main screen, and the blonde appeared before the room. "Hello, Wren." Karr said, making his irritation obvious, "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me."

She smiled and leaned back into the chair she sat in. There were no windows in the room, and the florescent light made her hair appear platinum. "Looks like you've made some new friends, Karr. I can only hope they're treating you well."

"They're not my friends. Although I'm probably better off here than with you, I would imagine."

Michael raised an eyebrow at that, honestly shocked. It was true, but he never thought he'd hear Karr say something like that.

"So, you're Wren." Sarah said. "You don't look like the kind of person who builds killer cars."

"I have people for that, Graiman. I'm too busy to fuss with computers."

"So it seems," Karr said bitterly. Michael wondered if Karr was genuinely hurt by Wren's wanting to be rid of him or if he was just playing it out. Could Karr by hurt by anything? No matter how much Kitt denied having feelings or experiencing emotions Michael knew it wasn't true, but Karr was definitely different.

"What do you want with us?" Sarah continued, regaining his attention.

"Karr didn't tell you?"

Sarah looked at Karr thoughtfully, "He told us what he knows, but I don't think you told him everything. You gave him up too easily."

"He did his job. I would've made an effort to get him back, but I realized he's more trouble than he's worth." She looked at Kitt, "Wilton Knight was right to start over."

Karr's scanner made a very indignant sounding noise, but whatever he had to say was suppressed.

"Anyway, I'm sure you'll find out what I'm after soon."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked. The whole time he seemed to be contemplating something, but Michael couldn't guess what it was.

Wren looked vaguely disgusted as she stared at Mike, "I don't want the spoil the surprise."

"Anything we should be looking for?" Bonnie inquired, sarcastically of course. Michael held back a smile.

Wren didn't. She seemed pleased by the thought of this 'surprise', while Michael only got a bad feeling.

"Oh, you'll know when it happens," she said. "I'll see you soon."

The screen went dark and immediately Bonnie was by Zoe's side, monitoring Wren's 'base'. Michael, feeling a little useless, took the moment to find out what was bothering his son.

"Hey, Mike?" he walked over and put a hand on KITT's mirror, scratching it with a short fingernail as he acted nonchalant. He was quite aware of Karr behind him, which didn't help.

"Yeah?"

"Something bothering you?"

Mike hauled himself on KITT's hood smoothly, but hesitated, "Yeah, actually. It's Wren." Michael stopped picking at the mirror. "I've seen her before, but I don't know where. I can't remember…"

"Is your memory coming back?"

Mike frowned. "Not really. I get pieces of things like this, but that's it."

Michael mirrored his son's expression, but there was nothing he could do to help him remember. "I wish there was something I could do."

"Maybe it'll wear off eventually." He didn't look very satisfied with the thought.

"Well, it is what it is. Don't let it bother you too much, alright? You've got too much to consider right now…" he pointedly looked at Sarah and elbowed Mike's arm.

Mike pushed him back and slid off KITT's hood. "You can mind your own business," he said, but the grin on his face didn't back up his serious tone.

"You know, I've been told I'm pretty bad at that."

"Oh I'm sure you have," Mike agreed, and even laughed a little. Michael couldn't help feeling accomplished as he joined Bonnie and Zoe, curiously peering over his wife's shoulder at the monitor. Apparently there was no attempt on Wren's part to leave her underground shelter yet, so he found a spot on the couch and ran his hand through his hair. The past two days had been the most stressful ones since… well, probably since he met Mike at the cemetery. He had to stop thinking for five minutes, but it didn't seem that would happen.

Sarah had quit whispering to Billy about something, probably the slow-going plans for reprogramming Karr. In Michael's opinion, Karr should be deactivated, _hopefully_ for good, but he wasn't part of the Foundation anymore… his opinion shouldn't matter. He was hoping Sarah would still see the danger in what she was doing, that Karr wasn't worth trying to salvage, but Melody seemed to have gotten her point across a bit more clearly. He wanted to leave the decision up to Sarah, but his own decision backfired. So instead of making a nice decorative piece on a shelf somewhere, Karr was residing in the middle of the room, too close for comfort.

As time went on and little progress was made in any direction, everyone eventually left the room, leaving the three cars to themselves. It remained that way until about 8 o'clock that night.

Melody had fallen asleep in her room around six, listening to music and trying to forget about the events of the past few days. The reality of her chase with Karr hadn't hit her until now, but that was always the case with her; immune to the shock of things until after the fact, when she could reflect. Who was she kidding, anyway? She wasn't cut out for FLAG. She should have listened to Kitt and gone home. She rolled over in the bed, face down, and turned up the music on her phone. Just as Perry reached the chorus in Edge of the Blade, a loud buzzing from outside cut him off. It almost sounded like a fire alarm. Melody jumped up and tucked the phone back into her pocket before heading downstairs.

"KITT, turn it off!" Mike yelled. The buzzing stopped and KITT apologized.

"I needed your attention." He said as the steel doors in the back of the room separated. "Wren has left her hideout."

Sarah, Bonnie, Zoe, and Billy rushed to the monitors, while Mike hopped in KITT. "Michael, stay here-"

"I'm right behind you!" Michael gave his son a reassuring look. Seconds passed before Mike nodded in response. They were both reversing out the tunnel before Melody reached the bottom step, feeling incredibly out of place. No one paid her any attention as she walked to the gimble, her eyes on the largest screen in front of the room. She placed a hand on the mechanism and watched as two black Camaros tore onto a small dirt road, narrowly avoiding the surrounding trees. How could they be running again? Melody thought they were destroyed, but the footage proved her wrong. What were they up against now?

She couldn't say how long she stood there, listening to everyone's voices blur together as FLAG communicated with her father and brother. People ran back in forth in front of her, yelling about ETAs, upgrades, something about Gatling guns. Somewhere in an open gravel field, Kitt took a hit from the striped Camaro on the screen. The other shot at them from a distance before KITT took out one of its guns with a laser. What the hell was happening?

The doors behind her opened again. No one noticed as Melody approached them, wondering who could possibly be coming inside, but Karr's engine stopped everyone in their tracks. Melody spun around and stared as Karr reversed out of the gimble, as easily as he would if he were simply parked there. She dove to the side when he came at her, toward the exit. More yelling. She jumped up and ran to the doors before they closed, but it was too late. She caught Karr's scanner disappearing in the darkness before he was gone, and her heart sank.


	16. Across the Rubicon

**AN:** And so it begins… ;)

**Chapter Fifteen:** Across the Rubicon

"What the _hell_ was that?!" Sarah yelled from across the room, one hand still on the keyboard behind her. She didn't receive an answer.

Melody stood in disbelief with her hands pressed against the cold doors, wondering why she ever defended Karr in the first place. Billy ran to the tablet attached to the gimble, and Bonnie rushed to Melody's side and checked her, looking for signs of injury.

"Mom," Melody breathed as Bonnie checked her palms. She felt too much like a child who fell off her bike. "It's not like he ran me over. I'm fine."

"He could have." She took Melody's hands and squeezed them between her own, frowning faintly.

Melody smiled.

"But he didn't."

Bonnie looked up from their hands. "No. He didn't." A second later she was back at the computers, and Billy was banging his head on the gimble.

"What's wrong, Billy?" she crossed the room to view the tablet, balling her hands into fists so he couldn't see her shaking.

"The gimble wasn't made for this! I should have known he'd figure it out. God, I'm so-"

"It's alright." No, it wasn't. Karr was gone, and there was nothing they could do about it. But she couldn't say that or Billy would go into a moment of self-loathing they couldn't afford to deal with right now. So instead she said: "You thought everything was disabled, and so did Sarah. Right? We can deal with him later."

Only they couldn't wait until Wren was taken care of. Karr was too dangerous, too unpredictable. He could go anywhere and they would never find him.

Billy clearly wasn't convinced either, but he turned back to the computers at Sarah's command. Melody watched the satellite footage of the dirt field. _Where are they?_ She wondered, before taking notice of the trees surrounding the area and the dirt road that cut through them. They were miles out of town, in a spot popular with kids at school that liked bonfires and beer. Kicked up dust blurred the shapes of the four black cars to the point that Melody couldn't tell who which one was. The sound of overworked engines and yelled out orders filled the room, coming in clear over the video feed from both cars.

She stood there hanging onto the gimble for a while, silently encouraging her father and brother, wincing when they were hit. Kitt was complaining about being too old for this. Michael told him to save it for later. She felt useless again. She didn't know what anyone was doing with the computers, not that she could help there anyway. She was so frustrated… and scared. What if something happened in the field that no one could predict? What if someone didn't come back?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she knew where Karr was going.

_Oh my god._

She looked to Sarah, who was trying so hard to stay calm as she spoke to Mike.

_They'll never forgive me…_

Bonnie's hair, streaked here and there with grey strands, whipped around her shoulders as she operated at a monitor. Zoe stood to her left, watching the screens intensely and suggesting defense methods to Mike and Michael when the Camaros were getting the upper hand. Billy's short hair stood up where he ran his hand through it. Everyone was so focused on the fight they never took notice when Melody picked her way to the side door and made the ascent to the hangar.

She ran to her car, parked to the left of the tunnel exit, next to Bonnie's Escape. She jumped in and slammed the door shut, grabbed the spare key from the glove box, and hesitated. Her heart was pounding in her ears, so loud she couldn't focus on anything else. Why didn't she feel like this earlier when she went after Karr? Probably because Kitt was there to protect her. That Trans Am was indestructible… her _Grand_ Am, not so much. She exhaled slowly and turned the key in the ignition.

/-/

Twenty minutes of driving passed, but Melody couldn't recall any of it. She was miles out of the city, down a back road few people knew. It seemed to be near Wren's hideout, but she couldn't be sure. It was definitely the place for a supercar brawl, hidden deep in the trees with no houses around, but there were dips in the road big enough to swallow her little sedan. Hopefully she wouldn't have to leave in a hurry.

Her phone rang in her pocket. Digging it out, she turned the volume down to ignore the calls that were sure to follow. She tossed it in the seat and hoped it wouldn't be Bonnie who called back.

She cracked the front windows as she approached the clearing, listening for the sounds of a demolition derby. She took a left off the road, navigating around trees and praying the car wouldn't get stuck. The trees thinned, and she could just make out the gravel pit below. Parking the car, she got out and approached the edge of the hill she was on. Its side was dug out by machines and now formed a steep cliff, giving her a view of the carnage.

Melody grabbed the branch of a nearby tree for support. Over the whining of her own car, she heard gunshots, the crashing of metal on metal. The light gleamed off the newly formed dents on Kitt's fenders and doors. The Mustang was missing a headlight and wires dangled from its place, which could only mean KITT was severely disabled, and vulnerable. The Camaros didn't look much better, and to her satisfaction one was missing the driver's door entirely, which had been deposited on the edge of the pit. But where was Karr? She was sure he'd be here, helping Wren. He lied to them this whole time, hadn't he? For what purpose she couldn't figure out, but she was sure this had to be part of Wren's whole plan. Karr couldn't have escaped on his own, and she's the only one who could help him do it.

Either way, she had to get down there.

She turned to run back to her car but paused mid-step. She stared at the little Grand Am, its hood barely clinging to the hinges and belts whining over the roar below her, and bit her lip. She knew what she had to do, but _damn_ did it hurt. She jumped in the seat and backed onto the road, mumbling the whole way and trying to convince herself it was the only way to make this work.

_Get over it,_ she thought. _It's a _car_ for god's sake, a piece of crap I paid 50 bucks for two years ago._

A necessary sacrifice.

She gunned it down the remainder of the sloping dirt road and into the field, stopping at its edge to assess the situation. Four black martyrs raced in front of her, all supporting a different cause. Almost as soon as she came into view, Kitt veered away from one of the Camaros, coming toward her. Behind him the vehicle gave chase, but before it reached him Kitt was hit with something in the side, hard enough to make Melody jump in her seat. She didn't see what it was, but the flying object came from the other Camaro not far away. KITT rammed it before it could launch another, and parts flew everywhere. Melody stopped breathing. Smoke poured out of KITT's engine, and it felt like an hour passed before Mike got out and stumbled backward away from KITT, looking stunned, before he collapsed to the ground.

All this happened in less than a minute, but an invisible hand held Melody back, forced her into the seat. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything. _It's just a nightmare, it has to be._

The Camaro KITT attacked, the one that left him smoking in a heap, continued on toward Kitt at a snail's pace. The second, the one with racing stripes that still had both doors attached –Detroit, she remembered was its name- stopped halfway across the field from Mike. A tall blonde woman got out as Michael and Kitt charged back toward them. They ignored her, and Melody was reminded of Kitt's basic programming. He couldn't hit Wren, and he couldn't risk letting Michael out while the Camaros were still functioning. Melody was almost to the woman before she realized she hit the accelerator.

She skidded to a stop 50 yards behind Wren, who now pointed a gun at her brother. Mike pulled himself into a sitting position and faced her now, but Melody couldn't tell what was wrong with him. Wren seemed to be talking to Mike, who stared at the blue car behind her in disbelief. Wren ignored it.

She had to keep her distance or Wren would shoot, she knew it. But the only weapon Melody had was her car, which by now she was more than willing to demolish. She'd give anything to save Mike, but what could she do from a distance?

The idea hit her then, so hard she physically jumped.

Melody scrambled out of the car, leaving the door open. An explosion sounded behind her and she bit back a scream, forcing herself not to look. She grabbed her tennis racket and two stray tennis balls from the back seat.

She walked to the front of the car, wiping the sweat from her palms onto her jeans.

_Focus. Breathe…_ she turned away from Wren, facing the road that lead away from the field. She set her feet.

More gunshots ricocheted behind her, but she wouldn't run.

Taking the racket in both hands, she stared at the back of Wren's head and waited until she could see her speaking to Mike again. She inhaled and tossed one of the balls high above her foot like she learned so many years ago, watching the ball, feeling the racket graze her back as it had so many times before. She heard a pop, a thud, and Wren dropped the gun. She stumbled forward with her hand on her head, whipped around to see what hit her as the tennis ball bounced innocently away, a fuzzy green weapon Melody never thought she'd use for such a purpose.

She noted Wren's stance, how much she needed to adjust now that her target moved, and whipped the second ball as hard as she could. Her side stretched too far and her shoulder rotated too hard. Pain pierced her arm, but it was nothing compared to the satisfaction she got from Wren's expression when the ball hit her in the gut at 85 miles an hour.

There was no time for celebration. Without thinking she dropped the racket and sprinted over to where Wren crouched on her knees, coughing so hard she gagged, but she wasn't down yet.

Melody wasn't that strong, and while she had won a past fist fight or two, she didn't want to challenge Wren in one. She remembered hearing somewhere that if you can't throw a punch, your knees and elbows were your best bet. Her arm ached, but she threw her elbow down on Wren's head anyway. Wren dropped but ripped at Melody's ankle. She fell back on her elbows as Wren pulled herself up and pinned down Melody's shoulders. She was tougher than Melody assumed, but was still breathing hard from the tennis ball assault.

"Why don't you mind your own business, _Knight?"_ Wren snarled from behind clenched teeth. Melody still didn't know who the hell this lady was, but it wouldn't matter if she ever found out.

Melody looked her straight in the eye, not missing a beat, "This is my business."

She brought her knee up and pried Wren away, sitting up enough to bring her arm back. Her knuckles cracked when they impacted Wren's jaw, and Melody couldn't help shouting in pain. Finally Wren rolled onto her back, still conscious but unmoving. Melody shook her hand out and held back the tears that stung beneath her eyes. She jogged over to Mike and helped him stand up, guiding him back to KITT. He insisted he was fine, but Melody refused to believe him.

"I can't believe-"

"Shut up," she advised, "Dad needs you." KITT's door was still hanging open and Mike slid behind the wheel.

"Michael…?" various components started up including the orb in the dash, but most were flickering or remained unlit. KITT sounded horrible.

Mike winced as he shifted in the seat, "KITT, are you alright?" he brought up the HUD, which flickered and twitched on the windshield. He found KITT's diagnostic system before the AI could reply:

"I… no, Michael, I am not okay."

"Well you're talking, so that's gonna have to be good enough."

"Am I playing hurt again… Michael?" he asked, referencing their only run-in with the new version of Karr.

Mike turned the key and eventually the engine started, which was nothing short of a miracle in itself, "Yeah, buddy. We still need you."

Melody closed the door but held the open window, "Mike, please, if you can't do it-"

"Get out of here, Mel. Please. I'll be alright." His words were not cruel, and Melody wasn't hurt by them. She backed away and smiled.

"I'll see you later."

He nodded and smiled back before the Mustang limped off, sounding strained but determined. Melody had no doubt he believed her.


	17. Hostage

**AN: **Don't fret, faithful readers (or read_er_, at this point); I am incapable of making a long story short. You're in for a bit of banter in this one.

**Chapter Sixteen:** Hostage

Melody jogged back to Wren, who lay unmoving on the ground. She heard a crash and saw a car go tumbling across the ground like a toy, only to continue on its mission when it landed on its tires. There was too much dust in the air to make out who it was. She couldn't focus on that right now, but not listening to the roar of engines, flying gravel, and crashing metal and glass simply couldn't be done. Her eyes were wet, but she hadn't noticed until now.

_Stop it, focus! Oh my god… no. I have to get Wren out._

She grabbed ahold of Wren's wrists and tugged her across the ground, pain shocking her arm with every pull, but she welcomed the distraction. Wren made a noise of protest, but was otherwise subdued. Melody popped the trunk of the Grand Am and ever so carefully threw Wren in the back. She was sure if she hadn't had adrenaline rushing through her system she couldn't have lifted her at all. Just as she locked the trunk there was a pause in the action behind her, and she heard Kitt yell her name.

Only rarely did Melody cry out in fear. The usual response was to freeze, to tense up and grab ahold of whatever was nearest. This time, as the striped Camaro broke away from the cloud of dust and debris and came careening toward her, it was the spoiler of her car. And of course, like a deer caught in headlights, she couldn't run.

She was stuck.

Time seemed to slow as she realized the severity of the situation. In seconds the bumper would impact her legs, but would she be thrown across the hood or just squished between the two cars? She always had a hunch she would die in a car accident, but never imagined it would be like… this.

As it turns out, it wasn't. Something hit the Camaro on its right side before she could further contemplate her death. Something big, something black… and grey.

_This isn't real._

Melody coughed as dust from the collision flew in her face. Kitt veered off and chased after Karr, who stopped pushing the Camaro, did a 180, and came back at Kitt. But instead of hitting him like Melody expected, Karr turbo boosted over the other Trans Am and left Kitt skidding and eventually reversing away from the Chevy.

In a power slide she didn't expect, Karr stopped twenty feet right in front of her. She still gripped the spoiler in her right hand and held on tight, pushing against her car in attempt to distance herself from the two-toned Trans Am. _What does he want?_

The passenger door clicked open as soon as he stopped, louder than the gradually dying rumble around them. No matter who was here or who was watching, right now it was just her and Karr.

His scanner marked the passing of time, still slower than her own heartbeat in her ears. One quick pass, two, three…

"Are you going to get in or not?" he sounded annoyed, like she was obviously supposed to take the door as a hint.

She let go of the spoiler. "Are you _insane?"_

"I'm not asking again."

She could just get in her own car and drive off with Wren, leaving Karr a perfect chance to escape. Or she could get in.

She'd already come this far.

_Why not?_

A quick glance around the field showed KITT parked off to the side, one of the Camaros in a burning heap next to him. Kitt pushed the remaining Camaro on its side and swung around, coming back toward Karr.

Karr's scanner paced faster, and Melody ran to the open door before he changed his mind.

Karr was moving before the door was shut and Melody fell into the seat. Over the rumble in her ears, over Karr's tires tearing at the gravel, she could faintly hear her dad calling her name on Kitt's voice projection system. She squeezed her eyes shut and kept a white-knuckled grip on the door handle, trying not to lose her lunch as Karr bounced over and navigated around the worst of the bumps in the dirt road. He hit the highway with squealing tires and she opened her eyes, catching a glimpse of Kitt's scanner in the dust far behind them.

The engine was deafening. She fought against the force that pushed her into the seat and climbed over the center console, positioning herself into the driver's seat.

"Don't attempt to override me. It _will_ end badly."

Melody put the seatbelt on, not trusting Karr to use his restraint system. "Calm down, I'm not stupid,"

"Then why did you get in?"

Ignoring him, she said, "Show me Kitt on the monitor."

He complied, and she saw an image of a dirty, dented Trans Am. Melody's heart ached, "That's not Kitt."

He zoomed in and she recognized the red scanner on the nose of the car, tracking slowly. The body of the car wasn't in terrible shape, but for a car that doesn't dent or scratch or break, the impressions in the metal meant Kitt was on his last leg.

She turned around to see for herself, but they were further behind than the monitor implied, "Can you scan my dad from here? Is he okay?"

Seconds went by without a response. "Karr, please! Is he alright?"

"He's fine."

"What does _'fine'_ mean?" she yelled without meaning to. If Mike had suffered injuries, then her father must have, too. It was a long fight, and she hadn't even been there for half of it.

"He has no signs of severe trauma, and should be fully functional after he's treated at the proper facility."

She turned back to face the windshield. "Functional? He isn't a machine, he's a person, and he's my _dad._"

"I am aware."

Melody picked at her nails absently, a nervous habit she really didn't care about at the moment.

"Did you see Mike? How was he?"

Karr didn't seem to be in the mood for conversation, but spoke when Melody went to ask again, "I obviously did not scan his vitals, but when he exited the vehicle in the field he did not appear to have any life-threatening injuries. Are you satisfied?"

"No."

"I am unaware of the condition of Kitt and the other vehicle, if that is what you wish to know."

"And I'm sure they're out of scanner range by now."

He didn't answer, but that was enough. A few minutes went by in silence before the sirens worked their way into the cabin.

"You gonna avoid the cops?"

Karr gunned the engine in response, weaving through honking cars at an excess of a hundred miles per hour, and the sirens died behind them. Only when they entered the city and slowly blended back into the increasing traffic did Melody breathe easy, or at least easi_er_.

"Where are we going?"

No response.

"Karr?"

Still nothing. At this rate, she'd get a better conversation out of her watch.

_The watch! My comlink! _

Carefully she released her hand from the door and acted like she was loosening the strap on the black comlink, but instead she turned it off, deactivating the homing beacon. She wasn't sure if Karr knew what the object was, but she'd like to keep it with her as long as possible even if it wasn't transmitting. If she was going to make it back to FLAG with Karr, she couldn't have anyone interfering before she could gain control of him. Which reminded her: "Hey, you know they can still track us, right? I'm sure Sarah's been using satellites to watch you this whole time."

They pulled up in the leftmost lane at a red stoplight, behind four or five cars. At first nothing happened, but after a moment Karr pulled into the wrong lane.

"What are you doing? You're going to get us killed!"

"Complaining will get you nowhere," Karr droned, "so you might as well be quiet."

Melody rolled her eyes, "And he speaks at last."

They cut through the intersection, swerving around a red Prius and bouncing back over the median on the other side. After a moment of computerized whirring, a map of the area appeared on Karr's monitor. Melody watched in curiosity as he panned through the blueprints of buildings, too fast for her to comprehend. _What's he looking for?_ He accelerated through another intersection and nearly clipped a taxi before cutting down an alley. Melody prepared for him to turbo boost over the road and into the next alley, but instead he skidded to a stop at the edge of the road, where cars pressed by unaware of the AI beside them. Karr ungraciously nosed his way into the river of traffic, stopping cars and pushing others out of the way. The sound of horns filled the air. Melody waved her apologies to the less than polite gestures thrown her way, and soon they were across.

"You know, you've got this fancy button here on the dash that says _TURBO BOOST-"_

Karr cut her off, "And the last time I _used_ turbo boost I caused damage to my internal components. I will not risk it again."

Melody leaned her arm against the door and glared at the building outside the window, grumbling more to herself than Karr, "And yet it doesn't hurt to ram a Camaro at 75 miles an hour."

"That maneuver was well calculated, and posed little risk to myself as the vehicle's external protection system was inoperable."

"You mean the nano-skin. It's the same thing KITT has. Wren must've stolen it from FLAG."

They turned back onto the next street in silence, blending in with traffic. Suddenly Karr transformed from a hellion to a model of good road manners, even using his turn signals, to Melody's surprise. He led her through the city until she was thoroughly lost, and eventually they turned into a more familiar setting.

"What is it with you and parking garages?" she asked as they took a ramp leading beneath the streets.

"They're safe," was all he said. But that was easy to understand as they continued downward. It was large, dark, quiet, and he could easily monitor all entrances and exits from a single point. It would be a good place to hide a car, as it cannot be singled out among the rest without a visual inspection of all floors. Unless you're Karr, and everything about you leaves a unique signature, from tire impressions to the signals he emits. That's probably why he continued their descent to the bottommost floor, three stories under the city. Still, they didn't stop here.

"Where are we going?" she asked again, and still didn't get an answer. Karr drove around the final floor until they approached a large door, just big enough for a car to go through. The Trans Am stopped before it, fog lights illuminating a large padlock holding the metal double doors shut.

"Can you pick a lock?" he asked, popping his glove box open. Inside was a flashlight, a pocket knife, some zip ties, a small metal box, and a black leather-bound book that read "Knight Automated Roving Robot: Owner's Manual". She pulled out the gold-trimmed book and flipped through it, smiling.

"This could come in handy, huh?"

"Put it back," Karr grumbled, but there was something akin to amusement in his voice that made her pause. Maybe she didn't hear him right. He told her to take out the box, and she did.

"Why do you have a lock picking kit?"

"Don't ask me; it's not like I put it there."

She shrugged and tried the door handle, but it wouldn't open. She raised an eyebrow at the dash.

"Can I trust you to come back?" Karr asked hesitantly. She let go of the handle. Since when was Karr the type to hesitate? Usually cockiness radiated from the AI, but apparently that wasn't always the case. She stared at the modulator.

"I'll come back."

A second later the door popped open on its own, and Melody pushed it aside. She flipped through the other elements of the Swiss Army Knife-like container as she walked into the brightness of Karr's headlights. She noticed his scanner was dim.

She dropped the lock to the ground and parted the doors. Karr rolled through to a poorly lit corridor and Melody closed the doors behind them both. She sat back in the car and they carried on down the chamber.

"Why didn't you just break through the door?" she wondered.

Karr flipped his main headlights on as he drove, "I don't want to leave a trail."

"Other than the brief police chase, the stoplights, the alley…"

"Starting now."

"Oh."

Melody glanced around the cabin as the minutes ticked by. It was very similar to Kitt's, but lacked the upgrades and needed repair. There were two small monitors while Kitt had a single larger one, and she could swear some of the buttons were scorched or melted. There was also an incessant rattling that developed somewhere below the dash, but she wasn't about to call attention to it. Suddenly Karr parked the vehicle, turned off the lights, and killed the engine.

Melody looked around the darkness, but found no reason to stop, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. We're staying here for the night."

It didn't seem that late. She checked her comlink, "It's only 5:30."

"I have nowhere else to be, and going above ground would be foolish."

"What do you expect me to do; twiddle my thumbs until I get tired?"

"I don't care what you do, as long as you remain quiet."

Melody laughed, a short sound, "Why, am I annoying?"

"I do not get annoyed. You are however a distraction and I do not wish to converse with you at the moment."

"Ouch." After a few minutes of silence boredom began to set in. She tried opening the glove box, which didn't budge.

"Don't touch that," Karr ordered.

"Why not?"

He was quiet. The longest hour of Melody's life passed by before she got an idea.

"Hey, Karr? I have to use the bathroom."

"No, you don't."

"You don't know that. And you won't scan me because you're afraid they'll be able to home in on the signal if you do. That's why you won't turn your scanner on, and why you were using the headlights to drive."

"I know you're lying," he countered.

"Or I haven't used the bathroom since I woke up, and the effort of not answering nature's call is starting to show in my voice," she did _not_ think she'd be having this conversation when she woke up this morning.

"You can't wait until tomorrow?"

"_Hell_ no!"

"In that case, it is dark down this corridor-"

Melody stopped him there, "No way. Absolutely not!"

"Then it can wait."

"_Please!_ You can't deny me my right to use the facilities."

"Be glad I gave you the option to leave my cabin."

A few minutes later, her fake problem became reality. Karr sighed, an electronic sound that made the modulator flash as he started the engine.

"We're leaving?" she asked.

"If it'll make you stop bouncing your leg, then yes."

"For claiming not to get annoyed… you sound pretty annoyed."

"Shut up, Knight."


	18. Hearing Voices

**Chapter Seventeen: **Hearing Voices

They exited the tunnel near a loading dock a few buildings over. Melody assumed it was to transport shipments to the building adjacent to the parking garage without clogging the streets, but had never seen such a setup before. Karr blacked out the windows as they turned onto the street, but she could still make out shapes and lights. Karr pulled next to a pump at a gas station.

"Are we getting gas, too?" she asked.

"Fill the tank," Karr directed, "And if you decide to run-"

"Yeah, I get it," Melody rolled her eyes and pulled a small wad of cash from her pocket, "I'll be a good little hostage, alright? Now let me out."

The door unlocked and she opened the gas cap, entertaining several ways she could sabotage Karr. The diesel nozzle was looking very tempting… but she was sure it wouldn't work, for one reason or another. Better to earn his trust anyway and avoid a confrontation with-

How _was_ her father? Her brother? They must have found Wren by now, but she didn't care about the blonde anymore. She leaned her head against the cool metal of the gas pump when the tank was full and stood there, wondering if they could see her now on the cameras. Probably not. They probably lost sight of them when they went in the garage or even before then, if they were even watching back at FLAG. Did they take Mike to a hospital? He should have gotten checked out. He didn't look good when she saw him last…

"Melody?"

She jerked upright and replaced the nozzle, wiping the moisture from her eyes in a poorly executed motion, masking it as scratching her nose.

"Yeah, Karr, I'm going," she put the cap back on and disappeared into the gas station.

/-/

"No, no! _Kitt,_ they're getting away!"

"I'm sorry, Michael, I can't…" Kitt slowed to a stop as Karr sped across the highway, disappearing down a hill. His systems were throwing so many messages of errors and malfunctions Kitt could hardly focus enough to keep the wheezing vehicle running. Michael yelled again and hit the wheel, bringing Kitt's attention back to his driver. The engine died.

"Michael." Kitt pleaded, trying to sound as if nothing were wrong with him, but Michael would see through the façade. He always could. The change in his voice and dead lights in the modulator that were always a symptom of excessive damage didn't help his cause.

"You can't scan them?" Michael asked desperately, staring at his voice modulator. His eyes were wet.

"I'm sorry, Michael."

_I can't do it, partner, _Kitt thought, _I've failed._

Michael seemed to sober up a bit and dug out his cell phone. He called Sarah, who was already tracking Karr. From what Kitt could hear she sounded distressed, but he didn't have to process the explanation, he just knew. _She's worried about Mike._

Michael hung up, and after a few tries he got the car started.

"Michael, I'm sorry-"

"It's not your fault, Kitt."

"But I should have scanned Karr in the field. It _is_ my fault."

Michael sighed and patted the dash reassuringly, but the motion didn't soothe his worries. "She'll be alright, buddy."

This took him by surprise. Karr had every right, in his own mind, to hurt Melody. Michael had never trusted Karr, never liked him, but he thought she'd be alright? Perhaps his audio receptors were failing, too. He asked his driver if he heard him right.

"He'll use her as a pawn, Kitt. I'm sure he knows now how effective hostages are, and he'll keep her as long as he can." He looked thoughtful. Furious, pained, and worried, but thoughtful, too, "He doesn't want to hurt her, anyway."

"How do you know?"

"He's always repaying a debt he thinks he owes to the people who save him, and Melody did just that. And… I don't know Kitt, I just have a feeling."

They hit a bump and something in his CPU finally shook loose, giving him all kinds of false readings. He couldn't work himself up enough to care, "I believe I share the same feeling."

"You have a feeling, huh?" he smiled, but thanks to years of human interaction, Kitt could see it didn't reach his eyes.

"I have to confess, Michael. I've always had a feeling."

Michael patted the dash, "I know, Kitt." He was still fuming, but it seemed that their mutual sentiment about Karr helped reassure Michael for the moment, if only slightly. They slowly rolled into the field, where KITT barely stood on four wheels and the Camaros rested in flames. Mike waiting for them in Melody's car, both feet out the door, his hand massaging his right shoulder. It looked like he took a beating, but Kitt couldn't be sure of the injuries. Most of his systems were nonfunctioning, and that included his medical scanner.

"Sarah called for help," he said as his father approached. Michael was holding his ribs, "She and Bonnie are on their way." Kitt was parked just behind the Grand Am, and could hear a faint thumping coming from the trunk. They all ignored it.

"How're you feeling?" Michael asked.

"Like hell," he gestured sadly toward the Mustang not far away, "KITT's nano-tech failed. I didn't have the seatbelt on."

"Of course you didn't," Michael scolded, but there was little anger there, "Did you learn anything?"

Mike winced, "Yeah; don't let KITT drive."

Michael frowned, "How is he?"

"I don't know. He shut down on me."

Confident that they were in stable condition for the time being, Kitt took the opportunity to check on his successor. Kitt parked at his side, in the small cloud of smoke that rolled out from under the bent and twisted hood.

"KITT, are you there?" he asked, hopeful, "Please respond…"

His scanner flickered, but Kitt didn't see. He began to fear the worst.

After so many years of being 'one of a kind', Kitt had often wondered what it would be if there were another like himself. He was never alone in the least, with Michael, Bonnie, and Melody at the house, but at one point he could have considered himself to be lonely. On such days he would wonder about his predecessor Karr, and the brutal way he was destroyed. Was it worth it? To save lives, yes. But at the same time, Kitt had never really wanted to _destroy_ him. He was dangerous, but he was the only one Kitt could really relate to. He never brought up these thoughts with Michael, of course, but he could admit it to himself. So when he found out about KITT, the Three Thousand, he was elated. He had to meet him! _What is he like_, Kitt would wonder. _How would he feel about me? Pleased to have company, neutral, or threatened, like Karr was?_ In reality it was moderate curiosity at first, which Kitt didn't mind. He was curious, too. But as KITT developed, they became more than just computers separated by time and experience. Finally, Kitt had someone who he could _entirely_ understand. Nothing was ever hidden between them, and everyone knew it. Kitt was proud of their friendship.

He couldn't stand seeing KITT like this now. What if they couldn't save him? What if they destroyed Karr too, and he was left totally alone again? The driver's door was torn off and lying a few feet away, and Kitt could clearly see the cracked glass orb inside. It flickered, and all feelings of self-pity were forgotten. He was alive!

"KITT!" he ached to scan the vehicle, but that wasn't possible.

"You sound… ter-rible…" Kitt 'winced' at the Mustang's broken response, but was relieved nonetheless.

"Speak for yourself. Are you alright?"

A long pause. "…no. What… -bout you?"

"I'm fine, but-"

His speaker crackled, "You're …lying."

Kitt hit the gas to save his dying engine again, "Don't worry about me. Mike is injured; he needs you."

"Can't help… Karr is… here, Kitt."

Too bad he couldn't have relayed that message earlier, "Not anymore. I'll explain later," he tapped into one of his only remaining functions, which was Michael's comlink, and gave them the news. Soon Bonnie and Sarah arrived in the Escape. The former hugged Michael with such force he had to pry her off his injured torso, and Sarah kneelt by Mike in the seat, patting his knee. An ambulance arrived, followed by several flatbed tow trucks.

They were in for a long night.

/-/

"Anywhere _else_ you need to go?" Karr asked when Melody climbed back inside.

"How long are we going to do this?" she asked back.

"That depends."

_He isn't going to give anything away, is he?_ "Well then I'll need some new clothes, and food for tonight." She could have gotten food in the gas station, but figured the longer she could keep Karr outside, the better.

"How long will that take?"

"That depends."

"You're really not as funny as you think you are."

She laughed, "Really? I thought I was pretty damn hilarious."

After a half hour of shopping at Kohl's, Melody returned to a very irritated AI.

"You said ten minutes," he said as she approached, "It's been-"

"_Shut up!"_ she said as she approached, her voice only loud enough for Karr to hear. A greying man next to Karr was eyeing the Trans Am suspiciously. Melody glared at the vehicle as well.

"Is someone in your car, Miss?" he asked her.

"Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Coulda sworn I heard someone."

She could see he was still skeptical, so she pushed back Karr's driver's seat to put the bag in and give the man a glimpse of the interior. That seemed to satisfy him.

"If I may give you a word of advice," he shook his head, "don't get old. And don't let anyone know if you do! You tell someone you're hearin' voices and they'll put you in a home soon as they can."

She laughed and sat down, "I'll keep that in mind. Have a good day."

The man turned to his own car, "Coulda sworn…"

Karr started the engine and they drove off, leaving the man fussing with his keys.

"Try not to do that, alright?"

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Let someone know you're… well, you. It may be 2010, but talking cars still don't exist."

"If you haven't noticed by now who you're talking to, it seems we may have a problem."

"They're not _supposed_ to exist. If word got out about you guys, all hell would break loose."

"Kitt talks to strangers, doesn't he?"

"Sometimes, but he's not stupid about it. A talking car is so unbelievable that either no one he talks to believes what's happening or the people they tell think they're crazy."

"What would happen if someone believed it?"

Melody snorted, "I don't know, they might tell someone who _would_ listen, someone who might start following you around. They could take advantage of you. I'm sure you know all about _that_."

"I've made my own decisions, Knight. No one controls me, and you would be better off to remember that."

"But you trust the wrong people."

"What?"

She felt uncomfortable again. Who was she to tell Karr how he felt? She really didn't know, it was just a shot in the dark, but seemed likely. "You keep dealing with people who don't care about you. They always want something, don't they? Money, safety, a thrill ride… no one cares about you."

Karr was quite for a while. Melody shifted in the seat.

"You care, do you not?"

He almost killed her parents. Not once, not twice, but three times. He almost killed a man so he could have a partner in crime. He abandoned his driver so he could escape. He stole from the Foundation and nearly destroyed Kitt. He was dangerous, malevolent, selfish, unpredictable, and insensible. Why should she care?

Because he had been wrongfully punished. Because he still deserved the second chance he didn't get 28 years ago.

"I wouldn't have let you kidnap me if I didn't."

They reentered the parking garage and stopped in the tunnel.

"I don't always trust the wrong people."


End file.
